Neill Byrne on how Bradford City have coped with injuries

But the centre half says the early-season upheaval has showcased the strength in depth in the Valley Parade squad.

Numbers have been tested in the opening months with Byrne among a lengthy list of absentees.

The Irishman is back now after missing five games through injury and then illness – an experienced presence in between loan duo Jack Shepherd and Cheick Diabate.

Tonight at Cheltenham will be only the fourth time that the trio have played together.

“It’s mad when you look back at some of the injuries compared with the start of the season,” said Byrne.

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“Myself, Sarce (Antoni Sarcevic), Aden (Baldwin), Ciaran (Kelly), Patto (Alex Pattison), Joe Adams – it was a scary thing to have so many injured in such a short space of time.

“Unfortunately, injuries are part and parcel of football. Nobody likes to hear it, but it’s happened with every team I’ve been involved in.

“But I imagine the gaffer was scratching his head wondering, ‘how’s my luck’, because of the number we got all at once.”

With resources stretched, others have been thrown into the fray – and Byrne believes they have all stood up to the test.

“It’s important that the club have recruited really well in the market.

“You’re never going to have just 11 players who start and finish the season. It’s all about however many, whether it’s 20, 24, literally the whole squad contributing.

“You can see from the performances of the lads who have come in since the start of the season – Cheick, Jack, Jamie (Walker), Clarke (Oduor).

“Everyone is pushing each other. You’ve got quality to come in and replace quality.

“Jamie and Clarke are experienced lads and you’ve got Cheick and Jack, who are younger and desperate and hungry to play as many games as they can.

“Those two have adapted really well. I remember from when I was younger, all you want to do is play and learn off the experienced players.

Ciaran Kelly is out for a lengthy period after ankle surgery (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“You’ve got Sam (Walker) there, Dicky (Richie Smallwood), Cooky (Andy Cook), Brad (Halliday), me – some real experience there and you could really see those lads helping them when some of us were out.

“Sarce and Aden have been out for a few weeks but they still have an input on the team helping the lads with what they’ve been through.

“It’s easy for managers at the start of the season to say everyone will play their part. But you can see already that’s going to be the case.

“The big example was Brad last week coming back in at short notice for me. He trains well, he’s a top professional and bang, he was ready to play.”

Byrne is happy to build a new defensive dynamic with Shepherd and Diabate after the original back-three pairing that started the first four league games was wiped out.

He added: “When you’re more experienced and have played plenty of games, you start getting used to playing with different players.

“But it obviously takes time to build relationships. That doesn’t just happen overnight.

“The two lads came in late after myself, Aden and Ciaran had built up that relationship through preseason and it was working really well.

“Jack and Cheick had to wait to get in but they’ve done really well. They’ve adapted and you start to learn about each other’s games.

“It’s about talking and trying to pass on any little bit of experience I can.

“They are two very good young players and I don’t need to tell them too much. But it’s about having that voice on the pitch and being the middle centre half you can see more.

“If I can pass on any bit of knowledge, that’s what I’m happy to do.”

But Shepherd did turn a deaf ear to Byrne when it came to that scorching volley on Saturday.

“I was screaming ‘pass’ at him!” laughed Byrne. “But then I just stood there and clapped.

“I was probably as surprised as Jack when he scored that but it was a great strike.

“You’ve got to give him a round of applause because it was brilliant.”

Neill Byrne said he clapped Jack Shepherd's wonder strike (Image: Thomas Gadd)

With both centre halves scoring against Gillingham, Byrne echoed Graham Alexander’s call for goals to be shared around the team and not just wait for Cook to net every time.

“Goals are important from all over the pitch and everyone needs to chip in. We can’t just rely on Cooky.

“It can only help if you’ve got goals from everywhere.

“I imagine they’ll start to be a lot more emphasis on people marking Cooky or double-marking him at corners.

“That should free up space for other players like Clarke and Jamie, who have had some good chances and will probably kick themselves they didn’t score at the weekend.

“Leave Cooky to do what he wants. It would be brilliant if he gets us 30 goals, but we can’t just rely on him and we need to help in any way we can.”