Bristol City have swooped to sign the tallest player in English football – Wolves' 6ft 7½ins striker Stefan Maierhofer.

Gary Johnson made the loan move after Chris Iwelumo opted to return to Molineux after a month at Ashton Gate.

Maierhofer, 27, goes straight into the squad for tonight's West Championship derby with Plymouth at Home Park and will stay with City until at least April 11.

The Austrian giant will give City the option of playing a direct brand of football on Plymouth's notoriously poor pitch, while Maierhofer can gain much-needed match practice as he has only played in two reserve games since he had a hernia operation in January.

Maierhofer said: "Many interviewers in Austria compare me to Peter Crouch. He's an unbelievable player – a very good striker who has scored lots of goals throughout his career.

"I work hard and give my best always. Technically I may not be the best footballer but I play with my heart and my soul to give my best for the fans and the club.

"I may be the tallest player, but it's important for me to score goals and play well.

"I'm six-foot seven-and-a-half and hopefully I'll be able to receive lots of crosses into the box to get on the end of."

Maierhofer was a latecomer to football, having worked as a chef before he joined Bayern Munich's reserve team from Austrian side SV Langenrohr in 2005.

He made two Bundesliga appearances before switching to German second division side Koblenz, prior to spells with Greuther Fürth and then Rapid Vienna in January 2008.

Maierhofer, who has 10 caps and one goal for Austria, signed for Wolves on a three- year deal for £1.8m last August.

He scored on his debut in a defeat at Blackburn but has featured just eight times for the Midlands club – a run which included a controversial red card at Everton.

Johnson revealed that Iwelumo had decided to return to Molineux.

"It was Chris' decision in the end," he said. "Mick (McCarthy, Wolves boss) was happy for him to come here for another month with the option of calling him back if they needed him.

"Chris thought he had worked hard to get to the Premier League and even though he had enjoyed his time here he wanted to get back to push himself for the Wolves first team."

Following the 2-0 defeat at Reading at the weekend, Johnson is well aware of the importance of the Plymouth clash, especially as leaders Newcastle visit Ashton Gate on Saturday.

"Every game is the next opportunity to return to winning ways especially after we have had a defeat. We need to put that right," he said.

"If we can get a result out of Plymouth, then two wins out of three away games is not going to be a bad return. It is important to try to be in credit before the Newcastle game. That's the aim. We can talk about it, but we have to do it."

Johnson knows Plymouth will go all out for victory because, as they are seven points from safety, draws aren't much use to them.

"They are committed to getting a run of wins, so we have to be ready for that," he said. "They are not an easy team to play against – I don't think they enjoy playing on their pitch either."

Meanwhile, Johnson, who could re-jig his midfield, is hopeful of having defender Liam Fontaine in the squad after the left-back went off with a thigh strain at Reading.

Young defender Christian Ribeiro could be on the bench after a month on loan at Colchester.

"Christian is back with us," said Johnson. "We are still in dialogue with Colchester, but we are still short of defenders and so he will be there or thereabouts in the next game or two."