David Artell says that James Jones’ latest injury set-back is another sickening blow to contend with but he is sure that the midfielder will fight back again.

Jones had just resumed full-time training again following his pelvic injury and he was pencilled in to receive some game time against Hull City in last night’s development squad game - but he tweaked a medial ligament in his knee in training on Thursday.

The Scotland Under-21 International tried to train on Friday following the innocuous incident but quickly withdrew after not feeling comfortable enough. A scan then revealed the extent of the injury and it is thought he will be out for a further 10-12 weeks.

Artell told the club’s official website: “That is football and it really does have a habit of kicking you when you are down. These things are here to test us and it will test Jonah more than anyone.

“The silver lining is that he has been here before and has come back, so he knows that it is a long road but he has done it before. He will work his socks off and I’m sure he will come back stronger for it.

“It was so innocuous. He caught the ball on the end of his toe and tried to stretch to make an interception and he has opened up his knee and tweaked the medial ligament. He even trained on Friday but then felt something wasn’t right, so we sent him for a scan.

“It is not ideal by a long way but we have to get on with it. We were all looking forward to having him back with us but it is just one of those things that we have to cope with.”