Mikael Mandron is making progress from the medial knee injury which hasn’t seen him play since sustaining the injury away at Gillingham in early February.

The Frenchman has scored 9 goals this season and it is hoped that he could feature again towards the end of the season. The former Sunderland man has resumed running again now but has had some discomfort with his ankle, so the club will remain cautious with him to make sure he is 100% right before he is considered again.

Full-back Tariq Uwakwe is in the words of the manager ‘also on the mend’ after he sustained a knee injury against Oxford United.

Rio Adebisi, Scott Robertson and Ryan Alebiosu have all undergone operations after their injuries and are ruled out for the season.

David Artell told the club’s official website: “I could sit here and talk about injuries every week but I don’t want to use that as an excuse. There is a fine line about how much information we want out there so the opposition don’t know who is injured and for how long. I don’t want to be moaning about the injuries but we have been without a lot of players for long periods of time at various stages throughout the season.

“They are the facts and we have just had to get on with it.”