GARY Bowyer believes Sean Scannell is now primed to come to the fore for City.

The winger’s absence from the starting line-up in the two opening league games has been a source of frustration for fans.

Scannell came off the bench against both Cambridge and Grimsby and made a difference in short bursts.

Read more: Five things we learned from Preston loss

Bowyer had spoken in the summer about his delight at hanging on to the former Huddersfield man and the “massive” impact he could have in the new campaign.

And after playing 73 minutes in the Carabao Cup loss to Preston, the City boss now feels that Scannell is getting up to speed.

Bowyer said: “It was brilliant for him. We’ve had to manage him through pre-season and he’s getting there now.

“It was good for him to get a full 70 minutes. I thought his application was spot on.

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think we got the ball to him enough when we did have the opportunity.”

Scannell’s occasional attacking glimpses were among the few highlights on Tuesday and Bowyer was frustrated that so few of those who came into a side featuring eight changes made their mark.

The likes of Clayton Donaldson, Matty Palmer and Kelvin Mellor were left on the bench, while skipper James Vaughan had been rested altogether to prepare for this weekend’s home clash with Oldham.

“You look at how he’s gone about it in the first couple of games,” added Bowyer. “We’ve got to make sure we look after certain ones at certain times and he was no different.

“(The performance) disappointed me to a point. I tried to take into consideration the standard we were up against.

“But I wanted one or two to certainly show a lot more in the game than they did.

“As a manager, you can only give them an opportunity. Then it’s down to them to put a case forward.

“There aren’t many who did that and that’s the disappointing thing. But obviously we’ve got to move on very quickly now for Saturday’s game.”

With 18 days left of the transfer window, Bowyer still feels his squad is light. But there will be no knee-jerk reaction from the Carabao Cup loss.

“We do need a couple more in. I’ve said that all along.

“But we can’t get carried away because of the level and the quality of the opposition. You have to put your hands up and admire how Preston went about it.”

Fit-again Shay McCartan is pushing for his first involvement of the season on Saturday.

“I am getting excited,” said Bowyer. “Tuesday was probably a bit too early but he has showed flashes again in training.”