Wright has not played a first-team game for City since April last year after battling a thigh injury.

It cost the Socceroo a place at both the 2018 World Cup and the 2019 Asian Cup.

After returning through the Under-23s at the end of last year, Wright finally made his first appearance for the senior team off the bench against Stoke.

The 26-year-old made two crucial plays, heading the ball off the line and pulling off a brilliant last-ditch tackle as James McClean prepared to shoot, as the Robins notched a win.

"Bails is fantastic," Johnson said after the game.

"It was a big, long injury he had. Last season he played through the pain barrier for the cause. It cost him his World Cup place. He should have had an operation earlier but he refused it because we were in the play-off hunt and the cup games.

"The operation has taken a while to get him set but now he is and if you want a character to go on in a game like that, under those circumstances, then you can’t get a better one than Bailey Wright.

"He's come on like he’s never been away and now we have such a fantastic strength of depth in that centre-half position."