Will Keane and James Collins could return to the Town squad at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday having trained, while Teddy Bishop is expected to be back in the travelling party having missed out last week, but Jon Nolan is a big doubt. Long-term absentee Tom Adeyemi has also been training for the first time since pre-season.

Regarding Keane, who has been out since the 1-1 draw at Wigan in late February with a hamstring problem, Lambert said: “Will trained this morning, but I’ll know whether there’s a reaction tomorrow and we’ll see how he is.

“Obviously he’s not match fit or anything like that, but he’s fit training with us and I want to have a chat with him tomorrow to see how he feels.”

Collins, who has had a calf injury since the defeat to Reading a month ago, is in a similar position.

“Those two trained this morning and touch wood again they look okay,” Lambert added.

“Okay, they’ve a lack of games, but if they go through tomorrow and they seem okay, then we’ll look at it from there and see.”

Bishop missed last week’s loss to Hull due having turned his ankle in training but Lambert is hopeful the 22-year-old will be OK to make the trip to the North-West: “It was serious enough for him to miss out, otherwise he would have played but he trained this morning, and we’ll see how he is for Saturday.

“Bishop’s not played too many games, so we don’t want him to break down, and the club miss him for pre-season, you have to look after them.

Nolan was replaced in the first half against the Tigers with an achilles injury and Lambert feels Saturday may come too soon for the former Shrewsbury man.

“I think Nolan will maybe struggle, but he’s been alright and it’s not as bad as what we thought, so he’s doing okay, again it might be a bit early for him because he never trained this morning,” he said.

Adeyemi, who is out of contract in the summer, has been sidelined since pre-season when he suffered an achilles injury which eventually required surgery, having missed virtually the whole of the previous season due to illness and then a recurrent hamstring problem.

“Tom trained for the first time since we’ve been here really, prior to that the lad hasn’t really done anything,” Lambert continued.

“There’s no pressure from me because he’s been out for a helluva long time, but as long as he doesn’t have any adverse reactions or problems, then we’ll just see and monitor him until the end of the season.”

He says Adeyemi is in a similar position to Emyr Huws: “There’s no point in rushing him back because the lads haven’t played football in the best part of 15 months, so I think they’re just glad to be back playing football really.”

He says Huws has suffered a minor setback having recently played in his first U23s game since August: “He’s missed a few days but it wasn’t to do with the problem he had before, it was another little problem.

“But I don’t think it’s anything to be alarmed about or anything like that.

"He got through that game but it wasn’t the problem with the knee that was keeping him out for that length of time.”

Another Welshman, striker Ellis Harrison, is also currently out of action, due to a back problem.

“He hurt his back so he missed training the other day and missed it again this morning so we’ll how he is as well, but we can’t tell,” Lambert added.

“He is frustrated because he’s a footballer and you don’t want to be injured.

"It’s not great being in a treatment room for the most part of your day and just looking at a gym every single day. So, if anything he needs a bit of luck to stay fit.”

On-loan Leicester left-back Callum Elder, who has featured only three times since signing in January, is back at the club having undergone surgery.

“He’s had his op, he had a hernia, he went back to Leicester and got the op, and he came back this morning,” the Blues boss said.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen him for a few weeks, but a hernia can keep you out for a few weeks, but he’s back in.”

Grant Ward, Freddie Sears, Ben Morris (all ACL) and Ben Folami (achilles) are all out for the season, while Matthew Pennington will also miss the rest of the campaign having returned to Everton and undergone surgery on an ankle ligament injury sustained in training a week ago.

Jack Lankester remains out with his back problem and is not expected to return this season.

Photo: TWTD

TimmyH added 17:47 - Apr 4 Adeyemi back in training wow!...well Huws played 60 odd minutes a couple of weeks ago but just waiting for the phrase 'had a set back'...don't hold your breath with Collins either.
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jas0999 added 18:24 - Apr 4 Hopefully, Collins, Adeyemi & Keane move on in the summer. All three have dreadful injury records and we can ill afford carrying those with a record of playing only a handful of games per season. Bishop in the same bracket but has signed new contract.
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Radlett_blue added 09:22 - Apr 5 Our sick note parade continues and it seems to afflict loan players as well.
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