For a blank Saturday afternoon, it proved to be surprisingly fruitful for Peter Taylor.

The City boss was as cheesed off as anyone when the overnight downpour turned stretches of Macclesfield’s Moss Rose pitch into a boating lake last week.

But the angry Cheshire rain clouds did provide a silver lining for the under-fire manager.

With no game to play, he put the squad through a hastily-arranged training session on artificial turf.

It turned out to be a very useful exercise for Taylor – and three players in particular.

Proof of that will be seen on Taylor’s team-sheet to face his former club Wycombe at Valley Parade tomorrow.

The names of Michael Flynn, Simon Ramsden and Lewis Hunt are all expected to feature, especially following the departure of loanees Richard Eckersley and Mark Cullen.

Another postponement may have delayed their return to arms by one more week but their frustration at missing out again will have been considerably less than others.

Taylor felt the returning trio got more out of an afternoon’s vigorous practice in-house than they would have had from bit-part outings against Macc.

He said: “If the (Macclesfield) game was half an hour long, you could have played all three of them but it would have been a gamble because it was not just a case of one player not doing the 90 minutes.

“Instead, what we did on the Saturday afternoon was probably better for them. They had 40-odd minutes of solid football and then a lot of running – it did them a world of good.

“I know there’s going to be a time when you are a bit flat because the game’s been called off. You prepare properly for a match and are looking forward to playing football, then all of a sudden that’s taken away.

“There are not a great deal of positives when you don’t play but on the injury side, that was definitely one of them.

“They all had big smiles on their faces when the game was called off. We had a good, hard session instead and they are getting a lot closer to (playing) 90 minutes now.”

Recent signing Scott Dobie has also benefited from the extended opportunity to get to know his new team-mates. Having arrived from St Johnstone 11 days ago, he will be itching to make his first appearance.

Dobie’s deal did not go through in time to face Lincoln in City’s last defeat and his only involvement on the pitch was a half-time wave to the fans.

He said: “I’m going to try and be positive, get my games and goals and hopefully bring something different to the squad.

“You have a look at the league and the teams behind with games in hand and you realise that every match counts. I’ve got the experience of both ends of the table and I want to help out.

“I’ve been through worse than this with Carlisle. They are a good club but nowhere near as big as Bradford.

“Everyone knows this club have had a taste of the top league and the fanbase is massive, so you can under-stand why people are frustrated.

“They are getting a bit of bad luck at the minute but I look at the players here and I’m sure things will turn round.”