DARA Costelloe has been offered some words of encouragement after being left out of City’s plans.

The Burnley loanee has made 10 appearances since joining in January - putting in his best performance against tomorrow’s opponents Gillingham - but is still to score his first goal.

He has featured only once in six games since his last start against Hartlepool, coming on as sub in the goalless draw at Crawley on Good Friday.

But Mark Hughes can sense the striker’s fortunes are picking up again after a dip in form.

He said: “Dara lost a bit of confidence and I’ve had conversations with him.

“He was just probably trying a little bit too hard and that was affecting him.

“He’s just gone out the side at the moment but he comes back into my thinking.

“He’s trained really well this week. I’m pleased with what I’ve seen from him.

“It looks like he’s back in a good place again so yeah, he becomes another option along with many others.”

City need an immediate reaction to rekindle their top-three hopes after suffering their first loss in 12 games.

But having scored three in each of their last two Valley Parade appearances, Hughes feels they are becoming a tougher prospect on home soil.

“Teams come with more trepidation,” he added.

“Yeah, they’ll hope to do well and some teams come here and have really enjoyed the experience this year.

“But I haven’t sensed that in recent times. There’s a little bit of anxiety from the opposition.

“We’ve been in the middle of a fantastic run of results so they know rocking up at Valley Parade will be a hard afternoon for them.

“That hasn’t always been the case, not only in my time but previous to that.

“We’ve been able to construct that and it won’t dissipate from now to the end of the season.”