RORY McArdle is on standby to make a dash for his biggest date of the season.

His wife Elizabeth is overdue as she prepares to give birth to their first child.

That means the City defender, once again the club’s most consistent performer so far, could be called away at any moment.

“The due date has been and gone,” he admitted. “So we’re just playing the waiting game.

“It will be very soon, hopefully anyway – and hopefully if it can be timed right, it will happen in between matches!”

McArdle has missed only one of City’s 35 games and that was after he fell ill with a stomach bug at Colchester in September.

But Phil Parkinson has given him permission to disappear in time to greet the new arrival.

McArdle added: “The gaffer has been great about it.

“He’s letting me keep my phone nearby and take my car to training and certain places.

“I’ve just got to keep him updated with what’s happening.

“He knows that when something does, I’ll just have to bolt.

“I’m not the first to do that in football. But that’s where we are at.

“It helps with a few of the lads who have had babies recently and a couple of others are expecting. You just ask them how they dealt with it.

“I just hope it’s not during a game or they’ll be saying ‘where’s Rory? He’s gone!”

The dad-to-be will take his usual position at the heart of the back four at Peterborough today as City look for a response to the Burton loss.

“It’s been frustrating,” he said. “Last Saturday we knew it was going to be tough but we never got started.

“We never reached a level that was acceptable. We had some half-decent chances but it wasn’t good enough.”