Full-back Kane Vincent-Young is set to train with the squad for the first time on Monday, and Brett McGavin and Toto Nsiala were both on the Playford Road turf yesterday but James Norwood faces a few weeks out and Keanan Bennetts has also emerged as an injury concern.

Vincent-Young has been sidelined since pre-season with an achilles injury having missed most of last season due to groin problems which required two operations.

The right-back, who made a huge impression in his nine games following his move from Colchester, hasn’t featured in a competitive match since October 2019.

Manager Paul Lambert says the 24-year-old is now making progress and should join in with his team-mates next week.

“Hopefully he’s going to train on Monday,” he said. “He’s doing really well, Kane, I mean really well, and hopefully on Monday we’ll start to see him train with us, which is a great sign because he’s a really good player, he’s not played for a year now, so hopefully on Monday he starts to join in with us.”

Asked to clarify that that will be a proper session alongside the rest of the squad, he added: “Hopefully. That’s the plan for him.

“He’s not done any sessions like that before, not with us, not with the team. He’ll need a few weeks probably, some games under his belt, we’ll try and arrange things for him, but it’s a huge bonus for us.”

Lambert concurred that the Londoner’s return would be a massive boost: “For heaven’s sake, yes, because he is athletic, he’s a really good footballer, so if we can get him back that’s a huge bonus for us.”

Lambert says he anticipates Vincent-Young returning to the first-team line-up before the end of 2020: “Tail end of this one probably, maybe new year.”

Looking elsewhere at his injury-ravaged squad, Lambert is hopeful that McGavin will be OK to return to the team having missed the trip to Oxford due to illness with Andre Dozzell suspended having amassed five bookings.

“He trained yesterday, we’ll have to wait and see but hopefully he’s OK,” Lambert said. “He trained a little bit yesterday so we’ll see how he is.”

The Blues boss said after Tuesday’s game that Jon Nolan had played in that match despite not being 100 per cent fit following his groin injury.

“No, he wasn’t,” he continued. “He felt the effects of from it. But he did well. As I said, we had to throw him in because there was nobody else to play. Hopefully that game’s done him alright.

“He had the little strain against Shrewsbury a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully there are no repercussions so he misses any more.

“I thought he did well in the game considering he hadn’t really done anything for the 10 days.”

Nsiala and Norwood suffered hamstring injuries against Charlton last week with the striker’s problem always expected to be the more serious of the two.

“James will be out for another few weeks,” Lambert said. “Toto trained yesterday. Again, we’ve got to watch, we just can’t really throw them in at the minute just because of the risk factor. But Mark and Woolfy did really well, for two young kids they did really well.”

Lambert also revealed that Bennetts has a hamstring issue, the on-loan Borussia Mönchengladbach having impressed his manager in recent matches.

“I think he’s done well, he’s getting better,” he said. “He’s got a little thing with his hamstring at the minute that we need to look at with him because he’s not played a lot of football prior to coming here, so we have to monitor him. I’ve been really happy with him in the last few games.”

Lambert felt Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Oxford was a decent result and a step in the right direction given the circumstances.

“Considering what’s happening at the minute, without a doubt," he said. "It was a really good point.

“I actually told you a lie when I said we had nine injuries, we had 12, there were 12 injuries out.

“That’s incredible, we have got a really strong team that’s not playing at the minute. We need to get them back. They’ve still not come back at the minute.

“I was talking to Karl Robinson after the game, he said he thought it was a really good time to play us, but I’m pretty sure everyone will be thinking that just because of the injuries we’ve got. But we got a good point.”

In addition to those already mentioned, Town still seem set to be without Cole Skuse, Flynn Downes (both knee), Teddy Bishop (ankle), Emyr Huws (back/hamstring), Tristan Nydam (ankle), Freddie Sears (hamstring), Gwion Edwards (hamstring) and Ben Morris (knee).

The Blues are making the long trip to Devon today on the coach. Asked how he and the squad pass the time, Lambert says the card schools of tradition are largely a thing of the past.

“I'm not sure the guys are old enough to play cards,” he said, before joking. “I think they play Kerplunk, Connect Four and Buckeroo.

“In the modern world I'm pretty sure there are iPads and movies getting thrown around there. You're right. It's a long way, so I watch different things that are on my iPad myself.”

Photo: Matchday Images

johnwarksshorts added 08:54 - Dec 5 Saxonblue, good theory. Have you thought about applying for the fitness coach role? Youd look good turning up in a classic Cortina, especially a Mk1😜
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Saxonblue74 added 09:41 - Dec 5 Johnwarksshorts, beer and fags at half time and all is sorted!😉
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PutneyBlue added 12:40 - Dec 5 Johnwarksshorts I think the problem is they don't go to the pub on the way to the match any more. A pint relaxes the muscles and numbs the pain...
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