Sheffield Wednesday may finally have some good news on the injury front ahead of the Sheffield derby at Hillsborough this coming Sunday.
The Owls lost the services of left-back Tommy Spurr during their last outing at Plymouth and were already without skipper Richard Wood and Peter Gilbert at that stage.
Although Spurr is likely to spend in excess of a month on the sidelines it would appear that both Wood and Gilbert are likely to be in contention to play.
A patched up Wednesday defence shipped four goals in that game at Home Park and so this could be a very timely return for the two experienced defenders.
In addition to this American international Right-back Frank Simek continued his road to recovery on Tuesday as the Owls reserves lost 2-1 to Lincoln. Simek played for over an hour to add to the 45minutes he played for the second string last week.
Having been out since December through injury it may be something of a risk to bring him back into the side for such a big game but he has at least given the manager something to think about.
Stand in right-back Tony McMahon, on loan from Middlesbrough, has done a steady job so far this campaign in the absence of the American but with the Owls defensive record being so erratic there could be a temptation to risk Simek.
Further up the field cult-hero striker Akpo Sodje is also on the way back to fitness but is highly unlikely to make the squad for the game on Sunday.
Sodje has been out since picking up an injury in the first-half of the opening game of the season against Burnley-a game in which he had already scored two goals. He was initially expected to be out for between one and two months but as is often the case for the Owls of late the recovery has taken slightly longer and he is yet to have a reserve team run out.