CITY boss Stuart McCall says age is irrelevant in his side and teased that another young gun would be making an appearance in the matchday squad for tonight's League Two clash with Southend at Valley Parade.

Eighteen-year-old duo Reece Staunton and Finn Cousin-Dawson both started Saturday's match at Barrow, with 20-year-old midfielder Elliot Watt coming off the bench.

Add in young loanees Bryce Hosannah and Austin Samuels, and it is a fresh-faced looking team McCall has at present.

He said: "A couple of the young boys are not ours to be fair, but you had them, as well as Elliot at 20 and two 18-year-olds on Saturday.

"We've got another one who's going to be in the squad for Southend too.

"Age is irrelevant, because you can be just as hungry at 18 as you are at 30. If you have that hunger then you've deserved your place."

Asked whether the youngsters need more looking after, McCall mused: "We're aware of the young ones but we've got to look out for a lot of the boys at the moment.

"I think it was Pep Guardiola who said the other day that there's 67 per cent more muscle injuries than usual at the moment, because of the amount of games being played and the lack of preparation for the season.

"If you look at us, we had a clean bill of health a month ago, and now we've got the likes of Lee Novak, Kurtis Guthrie, Gareth Evans and Zeli Ismail all out with tissue injuries.

"They're all going to be out for the short-term future. Lee will be out for the longest, it could be another month before he's back.

"We're aware of the needs of the squad and we need to keep an eye out even for the slightest tightness in a players' muscles."

Those injured players are all attacking by nature, but McCall does not want to use that as an excuse for a lack of goals and creativity so far this season.

He said: "Those four we've got out are all attacking and creative, but Callum Cooke could have been on three or four goals already and Harry Pritchard could have had a hat-trick with his chances at Mansfield.

"In the last few games, we've conceded to a left-back, a left-wing back and a sitting midfielder against Harrogate, so it just shows goals have to come from throughout the team.

"We've not really done that other than Connor Wood's goal at Mansfield and Elliot Watt's free-kick at Forest Green.

"The other thing is we've only been ahead in three of our 13 games this season and we've won two of those.

"We haven't scored first in any of our seven home games either.

"We've gone behind early in our last three or four games and it's not been easy to get back into it, so that has to change."

Those bad starts mean City have lost their last three league games, but they would expect to break that run against rock-bottom Southend tonight.

McCall said: "We can't get too complacent, and we're treating Southend just like Salford or any other team.

"We're confident in the players we have to play against any team, not just Southend."

Asked for any words of advice for their young manager Mark Molesley, who joined at the start of this season from non-league Weymouth, McCall said: "Whoever came in at Southend, it was always going to be a tough job, as they've had a hard time in the last couple of seasons, surviving on the last day the other year then getting relegated last season.

"But as long as he has good people around him and he sticks to his beliefs, he can do a good job at this level."

Molesley might have been helped if he had had the vocal backing of Southend's fans, with McCall in no doubt that City have missed having their loyal supporters at the ground too.

But with no sign of them returning any time soon, and a new 'national lockdown' looming later this week, the Bantams boss admits City need to shoulder the responsibility of bringing some much-needed joy into their lives.

He said: "Football continues to be important to us, the supporters and the country.

"You look to your team to raise spirits and we want to put smiles back on people's faces.

"Life in general is frustrating at the moment and we've had poor results of late, which won't have helped, as fans look to us as someone that can offer hope.

"It's a trying situation in football right now but in life too, so we've got to put in a performance in tonight's game and show some fight to the supporters."