Jon McLaughlin is ready to fight Matt Duke for the City goalkeeping duties.

Phil Parkinson yesterday sent Oscar Jansson back to Tottenham at the end of his month’s loan.

He then challenged former first choice McLaughlin to put the pressure on Duke for a starting spot.

McLaughlin has had a tough time since contracting a severe bout of food poisoning in the opening days of pre-season training.

He ended up in hospital and lost nearly ten pounds of weight after being ruled out of action for over a week.

His absence saw City try a string of keepers, with Jansson and Liverpool loanee Martin Hansen both gazumping him in the senior line-up.

Duke’s arrival last week on a two-year deal confirmed that McLaughlin, who played for the reserves on Tuesday, is down the pecking order.

But Parkinson has had a good chat with him and believes he can force his way back into contention.

The City boss said: “It’s really just a case of Jon getting back to where he wants to be in terms of his strength. He’s got to go again and fight for the number one shirt.

“You can never underestimate the effects when you have an illness like that. It knocks the stuffing out of you and takes a while to build the strength back up.

“But (goalkeeping coach) Kevin Pressman has been pleased with Jon in training and it’s up to him now to keep pushing on.”

Parkinson hopes Duke’s experience will benefit the former Great Britain Students stopper, who turns 24 tomorrow.

He said: “Dukey is like all keepers and they will work hard with each other in training. But there’s an element of competition in there as well, which is what I want at the moment.

“Matt Duke played last Saturday but Jon has got to push him for his place and I’m sure he will do that.”