Both David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop could return from long-term injury at Wolves on Saturday, but the Blues will be without striker Daryl Murphy.

McGoldrick hasn’t played since December due to a hamstring injury while Bishop hasn’t kicked a ball this season, but the creative duo could be involved at Molineux.

Striker McGoldrick made his return for the under 21s against Nottingham Forest last week, with McCarthy always hopeful of having him available for Saturday’s game, but Bishop’s potential return is perhaps more of a surprise after the Blues’ boss admitted recently that it may be time to write him off for the campaign.

While he’s delighted to have the duo back, McCarthy admitted 90 minutes would be a little much to ask.

He said: “The good news is that Didzy is on the bus and there’s every chance that Bish will be there too.

“He’s trained with the squad this week, he trained on Monday and Tuesday, really intense sessions.

“He had his recovery day yesterday like all the others and he’s trained again today. He doesn’t feel anything, so that’s a real plus.

“Please don’t think straight away they’ll both be ready to start and play 90 minutes because that would be a huge ask, but they’re both quality players that we might be able to get sub appearances out of and that would be a bonus, having those two players going on.”

He added: “It’s not manager’s speak, it’s just common sense. If you start and play 60 minutes then very often, especially in the Championship, it can be very tough and horrible and turgid and scruffy and scrappy with not a lot of chances.

“If you bring on quality with 30 minutes to go then they can show that quality against tiring opposition without having to bust their guts running around and chasing. It’s more worthwhile having those sort of players on the field when the game opens up and they’re not having to do all that graft to get a foothold in the game.”

McCarthy will be without striker Murphy for Saturday’s game, however, after the Irishman suffered a calf injury while on international duty last week. It’s not yet clear how long the forward will be sidelined.

“He won’t be available on Saturday and we’ll see how he is for the two games after that, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday,” McCarthy said.

“At the moment we don’t know, but he’ll be missing on Saturday.”

There’s better news for Kevin Bru, though, with the midfielder training despite missing a game for Mauritius.