BEN Richards-Everton may have to wait to return to the City fray just like James Vaughan.

The towering centre half is back in contention after serving a three-game ban for his red card against Carlisle last month.

Richards-Everton, Gary Bowyer’s first signing of the summer, had played every minute in League Two up to that point.

But his boss has hinted that the 6ft 5in defender is not guaranteed to walk straight back in against Crawley on Saturday.

The two O’Connors, Paudie and Anthony, have formed a solid pairing in Richards-Everton’s absence – another example of the depth in the squad that Bowyer believes will be vital to City’s chances this season.

Bowyer said: “That again shows the quality that we’ve got that we can call upon those two with Ben being out.

“The two of them have done ever so well during his suspension. They made some great blocks against Morecambe.

“It’s competition and it’s up to everybody to fight for their place. When you’ve got the shirt, you’ve got to keep it.”

Given how well Richards-Everton has performed up to now, it would still be a surprise if he did not get the nod again at Valley Parade. Morecambe’s late goal on Saturday means City have kept only one clean sheet in 11 games in all competitions.

But Bowyer demonstrated by not picking Vaughan at the Globe Arena that nobody has an automatic starting spot.

The Bantams skipper was held back until the 77th minute before getting his chance again from the bench.

Bowyer added: “You looked at the level of performance the previous week and think, ‘do you change a winning team?’ It’s that old chestnut.

“It wasn’t easy but you look at the squad we’re building and the quality we can bring on and impact they can have.

“Last week, Shay McCartan came on and scored the winner. On Saturday, I thought Remi (Aramide Oteh) loked lively and took his goal well.

“In fact, he could have gone away with a hat-trick with his header at the back post and a couple of one-on-one opportunities.

“But that’s the quality we do have. They have to train properly every day, have to work very hard and keep pushing.

“We’re going into that period again of playing Saturday Tuesday, Saturday so to be able to call on people that have got minutes is brilliant for us.”

Kelvin Mellor, Tyler French and Jackson Longridge are all being assessed after missing out with knocks.

Long-term casualty Jamie Devitt was in the crowd at Morecambe. He is now using only one crutch as he recovers from his hamstring operation.