Captain not rushing back…

Club captain Steve Caldwell is not yet ready to set a specific target for his return to action.

The centre back has been out since the home loss against Birmingham in August after injuring knee ligaments.

He was with the rest of the non-international playing squad in Portugal this week and joined in running on the beach, though he is not yet ready to return to full training,

‘I managed a couple of good running sessions in Portugal and I’m ahead of schedule.

‘It’s going well but I can’t say for sure when I’ll be back. I’ve never had an injury like this so I’ve no experience of it. I’m fine running but I’m not at the stage where I can kick a ball yet, that’s the test with this kind of injury. If I can start to do that next week, I might not be too far off.’

Caldwell believes the international break has come at a good time for him and will mean that he will not be taking the risk of rushing back too early,

‘I’m finding that I’m holding myself back a bit. It’s better to be safe than sorry at this stage. You have to be wary when setting targets. We were there for three days and the lads had a couple of tough training sessions, mainly without the ball. We had Monday off and a few of the lads played golf while others went to a local water park,’