BRISTOL City captain Louis Carey makes his long-awaited return from injury today.

Ruled out of pre-season by a freak heel injury after a barbecue fell on him, the 33-year-old Bristolian is scheduled to play in a practice match against Cheltenham at City's Failand training headquarters.

And fellow defender Christian Ribeiro is also set to make his first appearance since the end of last season after recovering from a back injury.

Carey and Welsh international Ribeiro have been back in training for a couple of weeks and manager Keith Millen said: "Both have been working hard and are pretty fit, but they just need games to get their sharpness back.

"As club captain, he is an important figure and we are hopeful he will be available for Saturday's game against Barnsley."

Lewin Nyatanga, Kalifa Cisse, James Wilson, Nicky Maynard, Sam Vokes, Alex Ball and Joe Lennox are still ruled out by injury and Danny Haynes has only just resumed training after a groin problem. "I've never known a situation like this in all my years in the game," added Millen. "We've been short of numbers all summer and it has been a major headache."

New midfield signings Jimmy Keohane and Patrick Hoban will make their first appearance since arriving from Ireland last week. Both have agreed one-year contracts.

Goalkeepers Stephen Henderson and Dean Gerken will also play a half each.