Steve Brooker is adopting a single-minded approach in his quest for regular first team football at Bristol City. Not content to sit on the substitutes' bench, the 27-year-old striker is hell-bent on forcing his way into manager Gary Johnson's starting XI. And having scored twice in as many games already this season, Brooker is making a compelling case for inclusion in Saturday's Sky-televised Championship showdown with Derby County at Ashton Gate (5.20pm). Linked with a possible move to Cheltenham Town earlier this summer, Brooker was expected to play second fiddle to City's other strikers after failing to break into the squad towards the end of last term. But the former Port Vale man, who spent two months on loan at Cheltenham earlier this year, says he is only interested in playing for City. He declared: "Last year was last year. The idea of going to Cheltenham was to get fit to come back and play for Bristol City. Of course, I'm going to be linked with them, but it was just a stage of my career where I needed to go somewhere to get fit, and I was grateful to Cheltenham for giving me the opportunity. But it was all about coming back to Bristol and getting my place back in the team. I want to be playing first-team football in the Championship."
Bristol Evening Post

Bristol City's young defender Christian Ribeiro has been ruled out for up to a year with knee ligament damage. The 18-year-old right-back suffered the injury half an hour into his first-team debut in the Carling Cup against Peterborough on Tuesday. Medics yesterday confirmed the fears that he damaged the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee. The Wales Under-21 international will have an operation today. City manager Gary Johnson said: "Everyone is gutted for Christian. It's hard luck on the lad, but, as I said on the night, he will come back from this."
Bristol Evening Post