Defender Sam Long is making good progress as he recovers from a knee operation.
Sam has had a nightmare run of injuries that have limited his appearances over the last two years, with the latest a persistent knee problem that eventually led to an operation.
"It has been very frustrating and the last couple of years have been quite tough for me" he told us today. "This latest injury has been really frustrating because it was more of an irritation than anything but it would get better then worse and we tried all sorts of methods to cure it and none of them worked. So the last resort was surgery, which was five weeks ago on Wednesday."
There is a smile back on his face as Sam steps things up and works his way towards full fitness once more.
"I'm slowly getting there" he says. "The strange thing last time was that it wasn't the twisting and turning that was the problem, it was the long strides. The first few days when I got out on the pitches were fine but then it would get worse and worse. In the end I had an operation to release the tension in the IT band and hopefully that has worked.
"I am out doing light work on the grass and working on the treadmill in the gym and so far so good. I am stepping things up this week and it feels a lot better so I am feeling very positive."
If Sam has learned one thing though, it is not to set a time on his return to the first team squad.
"No, I'm not doing that!" he laughs. "I'm just going to take it day by day because since I had the injury I never put a timescale on it, so why do it now and rush the last bit after I have been out so long? It is all about being professional and patient now."