Town boss Kieran McKenna expects forward Sone Aluko to return to the squad and the pitch on Saturday as the Blues host Peterborough following the knee injury which has kept the former Nigerian international out of action since the end of August.
The 33-year-old, who has been sidelined since suffering the injury in the Papa Johns Trophy tie against Northampton, has been back training alongside his teammates this week.
"He’s trained well, a big boost to have him back,” McKenna said. "We’ve still got a session to go, but there’s every chance that he’ll be back in the squad and back on the pitch this weekend.
"We’re short in those positions at the moment, the inside forward or number 10 positions or whatever you want to label them have been a massive part of how we play and without Marcus [Harness] and without Tyreece [John-Jules], we’re certainly lighter in those areas
"We felt that in the game last weekend in terms of not having options in those positions, and Panutche [Camara], of course, who can play there.
"We’re light in those areas at the moment and that makes limits our options from what what we’ve had over the course of the season, so great to have a player back in those positions.
"And, of course, Sone brings qualities to those positions that not everybody has. His composure, his ability to take the ball in tight spaces, helps us to control games, helps us break down teams who are deep and also his aggression and his pressing off the ball is excellent as well.
"He brings us a lot, we’re delighted to have his qualities back and delighted to have a squad member back in that position.”
Regarding Camara, who continues to be hampered with the injury he picked up at the end of last season when with Plymouth, McKenna added: "He’s still suffering with his groin injury that he’s had and isn’t quite able to get over at the moment.
"We’re investigating it, it traces back to the issue he had in the summer that he had surgery on before he arrived, but it’s still not a position he’s happy with, so we’re investigating that further.”
Better news is that Lee Evans continues to make progress after his knee injury: "He’s back on the grass and working hard, not with the group yet but he’s working well with the rehabilitation coaches, so that’s all going very well.”"
McKenna says no new problems have emerged since the weekend: "No, nothing this week. Of course, over the course of a training week you have some knocks and issues but nothing that should overly affect the squad for the weekend.”
With Aluko back and Evans not too far away, McKenna is gradually getting more of his squad available with Harness expected around the turn of the year, although John-Jules a longer term absentee and not likely to be back until February at the earliest.
"Bit by bit,” he reflected. "We know that in two or three weeks’ time we’ll be in a stronger position again than we are now but we’ve been stretched since September really with the spate of joint issues that we had around the September period. We’ve been stretched since then really.
"Overall, the group have coped admirably, but we’ll be happier when we’re back to a position closer to full strength than we are now.”