Bradford City's 18-year-old defender Andrew O'Brien, pictured, is set to return to their starting line-up for Saturday's home clash with Birmingham with praise ringing in his ears.

The 18-year-old centre back seems certain to partner Eddie Youds at the heart of the defence following on-loan Andy Melville's return to Sunderland.

And he will go into battle with excellent reports following his appearance for the Football League Under-21 side who drew 0-0 with Italy's Serie B at Charlton on Tuesday.

O'Brien - the youngest member of the side - played alongside Sheffield United's new signing from Everton John O'Connor in the centre of the defence, and was picked out for special praise from Charlton manager Alan Curbishley, who was in charge of the team.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it," said O'Brien. "It was a chance to meet other players and it was great experience to work with Alan Curbishley and his assistant at Charlton Les Reid, and Martin Hunter, who used to be on the coaching staff at Valley Parade. It was good to work with a new set of managers and see how they operate.

"It was a bit hard for us because we only trained together for one day before the match, but it was all enjoyable.

"We were disappointed not to win the match, but overall it was a good performance. It was nice to keep a clean sheet at that standard, although we weren't really tested."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.