James Wilson and Toto Nsiala aren’t too far away from a return from injury, while Oli Hawkins is making progress following his knee surgery, and manager Paul Lambert says his squad has suffered no new injuries in the wake of Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Peterborough.
Asked whether everyone was fit and well after the London Road trip at this morning’s press conference, during which the media were told he would only answer questions about Saturday’s match at Shrewsbury, he said: "Yes, it was a hard game, physically it was a tough game. I think the game could have gone either way.
"But everybody seems not too bad, so we’ll see how we are again this morning and we go there, and as I’ve said before, we play Saturday-Tuesday for quite a little bit here. We’ll see how everybody is.”
Jon Nolan has missed the last three games having previously been involved having got over his calf injury but Lambert says there’s no new issue for the midfielder.
"He’s fine, listen I’ve got 20-odd guys to think of, he’s fine, everybody’s ready to play, we try and pick a team which can win on Saturday,” he said.
Nsiala suffered a hamstring problem in training ahead of the Sunderland game at the end of last month but is making progress, Lambert says.
"He just came back yesterday, he trained with us yesterday in a small game,” he said. "He’s doing alright, he’s another with a hamstring problem but he’s doing alright. This one might be a little bit early for him.”
James Wilson has been out since October with a knee injury, but is also now back training although similarly won’t be ready for Saturday.
"He’s started training with us as well in the last few days,” the Blues manager continued. "I think James maybe needs a game somewhere and we’ll see how he is. But he’s doing alright. We’ve got to remember those guys have been out for a long time.”
Regarding striker Oli Hawkins, who recently underwent a knee operation, he added: "Yes, he’s doing well. He’s coming on nicely, Oli. He’s doing OK.”
Another striker, Kayden Jackson, is available again having served his three-match ban for his red card against Sunderland.
Quizzed on how much impact the weather has had on training this week, Lambert had praise for the club’s ground staff.
"I’ve got to say the groundsmen have been brilliant,” he said. "I know they’re probably understaffed but they all put a shift in to clear that snow for us. We’ve got half a pitch which is OK, at least there’s a bit of grass there that we can train on.
"But the groundsman guys, I had a chat with them yesterday and thanked them for their work because they’ve done brilliant for us.”
He says with games coming thick and fast training has been kept light: "It’s only rest and recovery, you can’t really do much because of it. You can only do little bits here and there.
"And that’s why it’s important to use everybody because we’re going to need everybody. There’s a long, long way to go.
"We’re in the mix to get in the play-offs, that’s for sure and if we can go and do what we’ve done against Blackpool and others, then let’s see what happens.”