KYLE Taylor "could definitely be an option" to fill the void left by the suspended David Brooks at Birmingham on Wednesday night, boss Scott Parker revealed.

Brooks is set to miss the trip to St Andrew's as he serves a one-match ban, following his red card in victory over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Cherries' squad is already stretched, with eight first-team players missing the weekend's game at the City Ground.

And while many are closing in on their returns, with the likes of Junior Stanislas and Ben Pearson likely to be involved to bolster the ranks, the squad is still set to be littered with Cherries academy graduates.

Of the seven substitutes available on Saturday, the average age was just 20. Aside from Leeds United loanee Leif Davis, the only member of the bench with any EFL experience was midfielder Taylor.

The Lytchett Minster-raised talent, 22, made his Cherries debut under Eddie Howe in an FA Cup loss at Wigan in January 2018.

He has only played one more competitive game for the club since, with that coming in the same competition a year later, in a loss against Brighton.

Since that game well over two years ago, Taylor has spent time out on loan at both Forest Green Rovers and Southend United, racking up 36 appearances in League Two.

He was reintegrated back in Cherries' first-team squad over the summer, featuring during pre-season.

In the first game under new boss Parker, Taylor came off the bench at half-time during the club's training camp in Marbella. And he made an instant impression in an advanced midfield role, scoring twice in a 4-2 win over Real Balompedica Linense.

Taylor has been an unused substitute in all three of Cherries' competitive fixtures so far this season, but could see an opportunity arise at St Andrew's, given Brooks's absence.

Discussing how he will look to replace Brooks in the side on Wednesday, Parker told the Daily Echo: "We’re going to have to be creative, definitely.

"We’ll have to certainly sit around the table and just work out what the best way to go is.

"Obviously there’s options off the bench in terms of young players, players which have not been in and around it for some time.

"That’s not to say I’m not going to do that. There’s a few options we can go down and we’ll have to work out what the best way to go is once we do that."

Asked if Taylor could fill that role, Parker added: "Yeah, Kyle could be an option. He did very well in pre-season, very well. He scored a couple of goals.

"He has been with us now for seven or eight weeks. Confident of the work which has taken place.

"He’s certainly in a physical place where I feel comfortable, tactically in terms of what I’m going to ask of him I feel that he understands as well.

"So Kyle could definitely be an option for us."

Should Taylor start at Birmingham, he would become the latest in a line of young Cherries players to get an opportunity in the first team in recent weeks, with Zeno Ibsen Rossi, Jordan Zemura, Jaidon Anthony and Gavin Kilkenny all making the first Championship starts of their careers in recent weeks.

"The team we’ve put out there, we’ve put a lot of youngsters in there and they’ve done remarkably well," said Parker.

"They’ve done very, very well, worked very, very hard in pre-season and given themselves a good grounding.

"We’ve put a lot of work into them of game understanding and they’ve been all eyes and ears on that, to then be able to perform like they have really.

"I’ve shown no fear in putting the youngsters in if they’re good enough. Another opportunity may come on Wednesday."