MARK Hughes has hailed the return of “big player” Jamie Walker to a City shirt.

The Scot’s 68th-minute appearance from the bench in the Papa Johns Trophy tie at Salford was the highlight of a bad night.

It was Walker’s first outing since the opening day of the season against Doncaster and the knee operation he underwent at the start of August.

City will continue to ease the attacker back into contention but Hughes is delighted to see him in the fold again.

Hughes said: “It was a big thing and I’m delighted for him. Everybody’s happy that he’s fit and raring to go again.

“We’ll aim to get him up to speed as quick as we can because we know he’s going to be a big player for us in the second half of the season.

“We can’t throw him in to a full 90 minutes just yet but he’s a great option.

“Obviously at some point he’ll be starting games and impacting them like we know he can. That's a big positive.”

The extra time until City’s next game at leaders Leyton Orient a week on Saturday will help to build up Walker’s recovery.

Hughes also has plenty to chew over in the extended break after his side’s underwhelming displays in their back-to-back losses. But he has no intentions to jettison City’s specific playing style and resort to more direct methods.

“We’ve had two great performances and two poor ones, if we’re honest,” he added.

“We’re a little bit up and down at the moment and just need to get that consistency and make sure we’re picking up points as we have done for the most part this season.

“We can bang it up front and challenge, but the ball will keep coming back at you.

“We’ll keep it and we’ll move the ball around. That’s the players we have in the squad.

“That’s why they’ve come to the club and why I’ve brought them. I want them to play in a certain way.

“When we get it right, we look an outstanding team, a great team that’s nice on the eye.

“When that doesn’t quite happen, then people will possibly look at our tempo and the way we retain possession and say that maybe we need to get it forward a little bit quicker.

“But teams are just waiting for you to hit hopeful balls into the box. That’s their bread and butter.

“That’s what they want you to do, so we’ve got to find a different way sometimes.”

With no cup involvement left, City’s sole target is on League Two promotion.

They are currently five points off the automatic promotion places in fifth after last weekend's loss to Northampton.

Hughes said: “There are big games ahead of us now and we need to make sure we’re better next time out.

“I’m confident we will be. Our focus has to be the league - it always has been, notwithstanding we wanted to progress in the cup competitions.

“They are not there for us anymore so now we’ve just got to make sure we get the job done in the league.

"We'd prefer to have another game at the weekend but that's not the case, so we'll take the time to regroup."