The midfielder made a two-minute cameo from the substitutes bench against Everton in midweek, her first appearance since suffering a knee injury in September, just two games into her City career.
Despite the setback coming so soon after her summer arrival, Cushing believes the 28-year-old made a positive out of a negative situation and the boss has been particularly impressed with how well she has trained since regaining her fitness.
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“It was good to get Laura on against Everton to knock the cobwebs off a little and get her back into game mode,” Cushing said.
“She’s back in the team now, so she will get some minutes. She has trained so well she is in my thoughts to start against Bristol City because we need midfielders who can go and create.
“Even though the injury was a negative, it’s turned into a bit of a positive.
“She came here from Liverpool and she was consumed by playing with quality players, winning games and the size of this football club.
“To come out of it and look in from the outside, it gave her a chance to build perspective and confidence.
“She looks a different player than when we first signed her.”
Janine Beckie is another player keeping the manager happy.
The Canadian forward has been deployed as a makeshift right-back in City’s last three games, but has not looked out of place in the unfamiliar role.
While Cushing admits there are aspects of defending the 25-year-old needs to work on, he understands it is a difficult adjustment for an attacking player and has heaped praise on Beckie for the way on which she has embraced the task.
“When we play a really offensive game, Janine almost plays as another attacker, so she doesn’t have to do so much defending,” he added.
“Out of the games she played there, she did the most defending against Everton and you could see from their goal there is a bit to work on as she got a bit too tight.
“We need to work on her one versus one defending, but she is an incredible person to go and help the team.
“She’s played as a striker and a winger for us and now she is playing right-back.
“It’s helping us at a minute as Aoife Mannion is injured and we’re really pleased as not only is she helping the team, she is playing well.”
