BRADFORD City Women manager Charlotte Stuart is hoping the club's young players can step up as they continue to endure a spell of injuries.

Ellie White, Zoe Roberts and Laura Elford are all still sidelined ahead of tomorrow's FA Women's Premier League trip to Fylde, who can climb to second in the Northern Division by winning their games in hand.

All three are big misses and would start if fit – but instead Stuart is looking to the youngsters impressing in the reserves to help plug the first-team gaps.

"We are still missing Ellie, Zoe and Laura, so we are very thin on the ground at the moment," explained Stuart.

"That is a positive for our younger players though, as they will be getting call-ups again."

Amy Wood is the natural replacement for full-back Roberts, who is out after straining knee ligaments.

Keavy Smith – with four goals in seven starts – is likely to fill the space of top-scorer Elford, while either Jessica Dunlop or Sophie Moulden could come in for White, who is close to returning after spraining shoulder muscles.

Stuart will hope the teenagers can inject new life into the team, who have not played since their 6-2 loss to Stoke City two weeks ago.

The trip to Fylde was rearranged after being called off last Sunday due to a waterlogged pitch, giving City an extra week of training to prepare and try to put right what went wrong against the Potters.

Stuart said: "We certainly feel we have been able to iron out a few issues with having the extra week off. Hopefully this will be seen on the pitch."

A win for the Bantams could see them leapfrog West Bromwich Albion into ninth place, with the match at Kellemargh Park tomorrow kicking off at 2pm.