Jon McLaughlin has dismissed any fears that he will miss City’s big kick-off.

The goalkeeper ended up in hospital after suffering a severe bout of food poisoning and was forced to miss over a week of pre-season training.

McLaughlin rejoined the squad on Monday but was not strong enough to face Guiseley last night. And he will not be risked in either of the two weekend friendlies.

Former Aberdeen and St Mirren keeper Mark Howard is the latest to try out in City’s goal but McLaughlin is confident he will be fit and firing again in time for the season’s opener against Aldershot.

He said: “I’ll definitely be okay. It’s just a case of being careful and building myself back up.

“I lost almost five kilos in three or four days so it was pretty brutal.

“I’ve been on antibiotics trying to recover but it’s taken a lot of time. Now I’m at the stage where I’m eating again, getting all the fluids back in and putting that weight back on.”

McLaughlin is targeting next Wednes-day’s trip to Hull for a possible return. But first he has to rebuild his fitness levels after ten days unable to do anything.

“It’s been so annoying to have a setback like that after I’d put in the hard work from coming back in to pre-season. I’ve had to start again with my fitness.

“There are only three weeks left but we’ve got really good staff here who know what I need to do in this situation. Fingers crossed I’ll have no more problems.

“I need to build up gradually. I’ve had a pretty bad shock to the body and it’s a case of not shocking it again while I’m recovering.

“You can’t afford to blast it while the immune system is not working fully. But my appetite is back and with supplements to help out, I’m sure that by the end of this week I’ll be back to my natural state.

“There are only a couple of friendlies left after that so it’s really important for me to play in those. You can’t be anything less than 100 per cent going into the first game.”