GARY Bowyer has voiced his frustration at seeing Jordan Gibson’s City progress put on hold with injury.

The young midfielder had made an early impression on the Bantams boss with his performances at the start of the season.

But having featured in five games in the opening month, Gibson has missed the last six since the Leasing.com Trophy tie at Bolton.

A niggly calf problem has proved to be worse than first thought to keep the 21-year-old a frustrated spectator on the sidelines.

Bowyer said: “Jordan had a calf problem and thought it was okay. He wanted to train but wasn’t getting anywhere with it.

“We sent him for a scan and it was worse than he thought as well. It’s been disappointing from our point of view because it’s been a couple of weeks.

“It’s taken longer than what we expected and he’s not quite back out on the grass yet.”

It is a frustrating delay for Gibson in the final year of his contract as he looks to show the Valley Parade faithful what he can do.

Having hardly featured in his first two seasons with City, the former Rangers youngster came back from a loan spell at Stevenage eager to push his claims.

Bowyer has certainly liked what he’s seen from Gibson up to now – but will not risk rushing him back too soon.

The City boss added: “I obviously hadn’t seen him from my time here but what he had shown on pre-season and how he had gone about it was really positive for us.

“He provides us with that flexibility in that he can play anywhere in the midfield four. At a push, he could also play in a more central position at the top end of the pitch as a number 10.

“He does cover a lot of options for us.

“But we have to be careful with him now and make sure that when he does come back, he stays back because the calf is obviously quite a tricky one.”

Bowyer appreciates Gibson’s keenness to get going again but refuses to take any chances. The return of Jermaine Anderson and Zeli Ismail this week will offer added options.

He said: “There’s no time frame with Jordan. You have to be very careful with calves and hamstrings.

“The younger ones are even more desperate to come back. Sometimes, they are unaware of their bodies in comparison with the more experienced players.

“They think it’s fine and there’s nothing there, then go and push themselves a little bit more.

“But it provides the others with an opportunity. Jermaine missed Saturday but he’s back training, so that’s good news, and the same with Zeli."