It also means City are wary of the fact Napier Marist being well beaten by their Palmerston North brethren 8-2 at Memorial Park last Saturday may not count for much.
"Being a new team and asking for their games to be at home on Sunday's, they could field two different teams, by including guys that aren't able to travel," said Bell.
"It's a little bit of an unknown how they play at home.
"With us playing on the Sunday, it gives us options to try some younger lads from Kelvin [Francis]'s Wanderers team.
"We'll take them to experience games at a higher league and what it's all about."
City will go with a three player bench, and despite missing Robinson, Bell has been happy to welcome back Jordan Joblin-Hall, who has a big point to prove now he is returned to home colours after two previous mid-season departures.
Likewise, the player-coaches were happy with how Max Davidson performed in the derby, giving he was asked to fulfil roles he hadn't performed previously.
"We were all....you could call it first game [where] everyone was a bit rusty," said Bell.
"We're trying to get the whole team involved on how it all went."
Preparing to face North End at home on Wembley Park No1 tomorrow afternoon at 2.45pm, King did not feel any of his players had earned public praise yet after the scoreless dud.
"Everybody was ok, but ok is not enough. If we want to do well this season we need to be better than ok."
The red card meant City played a man down for the crucial final 10 minutes, but Athletic could not capitalise - being held to a stalemate with their neighbours for the first time in League play after two victories last year.
"There's still players that you need to get past, at the end of the day," said King.
"Numerical superiority is different in football to other codes.
"We looked at our game, we identified the areas that we did well.
"We have to go and work with what we've got, we can't just recruit some big signing.
"That's not what we're about."
King does not need reminding that finishing strongly is crucial against North End, last season's runnersup, who they had to play in back-to-back games in July and August to complete the 2018 League, due to the weather postponement of their first round game.
In both matches, North End scored after the 90th minute mark, getting a 3-2 win at Wembley and then holding Athletic to a 2-2 draw at Skoglund Park.
Talking to sideline experts that he trusts, who watched last year's games and the City draw, King said he had been reminded his team does their best when they display a more "cavalier" attitude.
So, if that meant expending more energy on all-out attack, rather than sitting back to see what the opposition will do in front of their own goal, then it was worth the risk.
"It is get back to that a little more and throw caution to the wind," King said.
"All we need to do is score one more goal than them and we win.
"If they score three that's fine, so long as we score four.
"Winning 1-0 is fine, but either way, it's still three [competition] points. That's it."
They will have to do without Scott Burney (head knock) and Jordan Gilmore (rolled ankle) for this week.
Heavy rain on Thursday hampered City's opportunities to have a second practice, but after such a dry summer, King said Wembley Park getting to soak up a little moisture and bring back the mud will be better for his players when they fall on ankles or knees.
"I'm sure the grounds will actually be loving the weather at the moment."
In the other main games this weekend, the GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic Reserves will go on the road today to face Takaro at Skoglund in the Horizons Premiership, while tomorrow Team Ritesh Football Whanganui hosts Feilding United at Wembley in their second Women's Federation League game, kickoff 1pm.
