Town boss Kieran McKenna says striker George Hirst isn’t too far away from a return to action, while forward Sammie Szmodics is expected to join in with the rest of the squad this week following his illness.

Hirst suffered a groin injury early on in the 3-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday just under a fortnight ago and was expected to be out for a few weeks.

“Still around the same,” McKenna said when asked about the Scotland international’s situation.

“He won’t be ready for Sunday [at Portsmouth]. We’ve got a good spell then until the next league fixture, so hopefully most of his recovery will be done by that point and if not for the FA Cup game [at home to Blackpool], then the next round of league fixtures, hopefully he won’t be too far away from that.”

Szmodics has missed the last four games due to illness, but McKenna says the Irish international has been back in at the training ground in the last few days.

“He’s been in for the last two days with the medical team and rehab team,” he said. “So hopefully we’ll get him in and around the group in the next few days.”

Photo: MI News via Reuters Connect