City today beefed up their midfield by snapping up Marc Bridge-Wilkinson on loan from Stockport.

The 25-year-old goes straight into the squad for tomorrow's trip to Walsall where injured Nicky Summerbee and banned duo David Wetherall and Lewis Emanuel are missing.

Bridge-Wilkinson becomes the fourth of the eight short-term loans City are allowed to make in the season. He has initially signed for a month but Colin Todd may look to extend that if it works out.

The ball-playing midfielder came through the ranks with Derby, making one Premiership appearance against Liverpool at Anfield, but made his name with Port Vale. He joined Stockport last summer, where he was briefly a team-mate of Owen Morrison, but found himself out of the picture when Chris Turner took charge.

Todd said: "The new manager came in and wanted to change a few things to make them play more directly.

"Marc has got good ability and can play all the way along the midfield. Hopefully he can give us that something extra in an area which I feel does need strengthening.

"He is someone I've had marked down for a while and if all goes well, maybe we can look to do something with a view towards next season.

"But I still feel we have every opportunity to get back into contention for the top six and bringing someone else in will help that."

After back-to-back losses, City need a pick-me-up at the Bescot to prevent slipping further back.

Todd added: "There will be teams below us who will be thinking they still have a chance of the play-offs so we are not writing off our chances. It has become more difficult because of the last two results. But I see no reason why we can't get something at Walsall to put ourselves back up there."