Stuart McCall has warned City fans to keep a lid on their expectations over Willy Topp.

The Chilean striker is on standby to be included in the squad for Saturday's Yorkshire derby against Rotherham after his £35,000 move was finally cleared by the authorities.

Topp, who prefers to be known as Billy, has waited three months for his chance since playing two trial games in the reserves. But he could be promoted to the bench if Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu is still bothered by a niggling injury.

Supporters are desperate to get a first glimpse of the 21-year-old in action but McCall is wary that nobody gets carried away.

"I hope people don't expect too much too soon from the lad," said McCall. "Billy has not played in this type of football before and needs time to settle in.

"He's obviously been training all the time with us but match fitness is totally different. Our lads aren't kicking lumps out of him in training - match football is a complete change from playing games in training.

"But Billy has settled in well; he obviously knows a lot of the lads now and his English is improving all the time. He just needs games out on the pitch.

"There's a chance he will be in the squad depending on the injuries. He's not ready to start a game yet but that doesn't mean he can't come on for 20 minutes."

Nicky Law has been back training with Sheffield United, suggesting they will not be stretching his loan at City into a third month. Paul Heckingbottom is out for at least a fortnight and Alex Rhodes and Eddie Johnson are still missing.

David Wetherall and Darren Williams have also been suffering with the chest infection that recently floored Mark Bower.

McCall will hold a late check on his resources but he is not keen to repeat the 4-5-1 formation employed at Chesterfield last week, even though Rotherham tend to line up in a similar way for away games.

He said: "To play that system at home is something I don't particularly want to do. The onus as the home side is to play two forwards and have a go, which I believe in.

"But it's a tricky one because you have to be aware of the other team's strengths.

"Rotherham like to get people breaking from midfield and wide areas and they play that system very well on their travels.

"When teams come here and have more of the ball like Chester did when they played three in the middle like that, then we might have to be patient.

"They may have stages when they dominate possession in certain areas because of the extra numbers. But the main stats that count are goals and shots on target; not how often you have the ball."

City are protecting a five-game unbeaten run but McCall is aiming to step it up after three straight draws. Rotherham had won seven on the bounce before last week's unexpected home loss against Rochdale.

The Bantams boss added: "I've been pretty pleased with our performances against the top sides at home. We defended really well against Peterborough; deserved the points against Chester and should have beaten Darlington as well as Wycombe, when you look at the chances created.

"We've had a decent little run of late but we've drawn the last three and need to start putting a few three-pointers together. I said that a few weeks back and we did at the time and now we need to go again."

City will be wary of former Huddersfield midfielder Mark Hudson, who has scored in his last two derby trips to Valley Parade - including the winner last season. Hudson has netted three times since joining Rotherham in the summer.

The Millers have a fitness worry over striker Ryan Taylor, who missed out last week after straining a hamstring.

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