Matthew Closing In On Full Fitness

The right-back had a disjointed pre-season at Sunderland, training with the Under-23s before joining City on loan for the 2016/17 campaign.

The former Celtic defender suffered a hamstring injury in August, which set him back further, but after starting City’s last three games, he believes progress has been made.

“I’m feeling confident in my own performances at the moment,” he told Bristol City Player HD.

“I’m getting fitter with every game, although I don’t think I’m at my best yet. I’ll just keep working hard.

“I didn’t have a good start to pre-season so it became a tough start to the campaign for me; stop-start really with the injury I picked up against Newcastle.

“I’ve enjoyed coming here and I’m working really hard to get up to speed.

“Hopefully the injuries are behind me now and I can get a good run in the team to build my fitness up.”

City host Preston North End tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm) with the aim of signing off their home campaign for 2016 with victory.

“I think our performances have been better than the results suggest in recent weeks,” Matthews added.

“Every game is different in the Championship. It was very open against Brentford in midweek but we’ll do our homework and video analysis on Preston to ensure we know what to expect tomorrow.”

A crowd in excess of 18,000 is guaranteed for the festive encounter. Tickets remain on general sale online, or by calling 0117 963 0600.