Blues boss Paul Lambert has revealed that midfielder Teddy Bishop isn’t too far behind Freddie Sears on the road to recovery, the striker having made his return to the U23s at Millwall on Monday.
Sears, out since February with an ACL injury, played the first 45 minutes of the U23s’ 4-1 loss to the Lions and subsequently said he’d need to play one more game for Gerard Nash and Chris Hogg’s side before being ready for first-team consideration ahead of the Portsmouth match a week tomorrow.
However, Lambert says fans - and the player himself - shouldn’t be too impatient regarding his return to the senior squad.
"Listen, it’s still a long way and you shouldn’t pin your hopes on Freddie because it’s still a long way,” Lambert warned.
"He and Bishop are doing really well and slowly but surely we’ll hopefully get them back.
"It’s a footballer's head he’s thinking with, you know? It’s a big ask if you haven’t be thrown in the deep end yet.
"The last thing I would want to happen to him is that same injury, which can happen, so you’ve got to use your sensible head with that one.”
But Lambert does look forward to the 30-year-old ex-Colchester and West Ham man being available to him in the months to come.
"That’s the aim, if he can carry on where he left off last season then great for everybody, but you’ve got to be a bit sensible with it, that was a nasty injury,” he added.
Regarding Bishop, who has been out since suffering a knee injury in Germany in pre-season, he confirmed that the 23-year-old is back training.
"Bish is out [training], those two will be like new signings if they come back the way they were.
"But as I said before, there’s no pressure on them, they’ll come back in their own time and hopefully they are the same as they were before they went out, but they’re doing well.”
Will Bishop be involved in the U23s on Monday? "I don’t know, I’ll see. In his own head he might be ready for that, but I’ll judge it from there. You just don’t want the guys to go out and get injured.”
Meanwhile, he reiterated that he has no intention of re-signing Grant Ward, despite the released midfielder having played for the U23s on Monday.
Lambert said that the 25-year-old was only involved as he works on his fitness after his ACL injury: "Yeah, that was all it was.”