RICK WAGHORN City boss Nigel Worthington today heaved a sigh of relief over Youssef Safri's fitness after his influential Moroccan midfielder limped out of Saturday's 1-1 draw at Hull City.

RICK WAGHORN

City boss Nigel Worthington today heaved a sigh of relief over Youssef Safri's fitness after his influential Moroccan midfielder limped out of Saturday's 1-1 draw at Hull City.

The fear was that a heavy whack to his knee would rule out Safri out of tomorrow night's crucial Coca-Cola Championship home game against Brighton and Hove Albion in which manager and club alike desperately need to arrest a wretched run of four straight home defeats.

“We'll wait until tomorrow morning to see what he is like,” said Worthington “It's just a knock and I would say his chances are pretty good. The physio will assess it.”

One of the brighter aspects of Saturday's trip to Humberside was a second-half appearance by the luckless Leon McKenzie, whose season has been so badly hit by strife of one variety or another.

“Leon's a million miles from starting again,” said Worthington, acutely aware that the last thing anyone needs is for the livewire striker to suffer another setback.

“He's missed a lot of training. You can't throw him back in - he'd pull another muscle and you'd lose him again. But it's great to have him around the place - his smiley face, his good humour and he showed all of that when he came on on Saturday.”