Joe Cole will not be back in time for the Blackburn game as he had
originally hoped.
But Glenn Roeder says he should be ready to play very soon.
"Joe did a lot more work today than he has done in the past couple of weeks," he reveals.
"He has been working in the last fortnight but we have eased him right off the foot injury and kept him away from weight bearing exercises on his foot.
"All the work he has been doing is on the upper body side, keeping that strong.
"But this morning he got involved working on the ball and, as I understand it, he is happy and comfortable with the work he has done.
"If there is no reaction overnight he can step things up over the next couple of days.
"If he gets a full week's training next week it is possible he could come back into contention for the Southampton game at home.
"He hasn't done enough football work because we took him away from the running side of training to protect his foot.
"So he has obviously lost some of his physical fitness - but we can top that up again in the next seven to 10 days."
It is clear that Glenn sees it as a risk including him for the trip to Ewood Park, and he explains:
"The key thing is that the pain in the foot has now gone; he was obviously troubled when he was striking the ball with his instep and that's why it was right to take him away from the football.
"But on the back of the work he has done today he seems to feel happy that the bone bruising has completely gone.
"If that is correct we can now step up on the football work, but he will not be involved at Blackburn.
"It will be nice to have him around for the Southampton game and hopefully for the rest of the season. "The last thing we need is any of our players injured and we certainly don't want Joe Cole out for too long."
Talking of another player on the injured list, Ian Pearce, he says:
"Ian is obviously a long term injury, and it must be frustrating for him to be able to work so hard in the gym but not be able to get on the training ground.
"But we must stay with what the consultant said that he will not be back to football until early December."
Glenn has also confirmed that Steven Clark and Anwar Uddin could go to Cheltenham on loan and says:
"They have had a trial game with Cheltenham and it is just an opportunity for them to get a game. "The reserve squad is that bit bigger because we haven't been sending players out on loan this year.
"So we just wanted to get some match match practice into them and if Sreve Cotterill likes one or both of them they can go out on loan."
But Glenn Roeder says he should be ready to play very soon.
"Joe did a lot more work today than he has done in the past couple of weeks," he reveals.
"He has been working in the last fortnight but we have eased him right off the foot injury and kept him away from weight bearing exercises on his foot.
"All the work he has been doing is on the upper body side, keeping that strong.
"But this morning he got involved working on the ball and, as I understand it, he is happy and comfortable with the work he has done.
"If there is no reaction overnight he can step things up over the next couple of days.
"If he gets a full week's training next week it is possible he could come back into contention for the Southampton game at home.
"He hasn't done enough football work because we took him away from the running side of training to protect his foot.
"So he has obviously lost some of his physical fitness - but we can top that up again in the next seven to 10 days."
It is clear that Glenn sees it as a risk including him for the trip to Ewood Park, and he explains:
"The key thing is that the pain in the foot has now gone; he was obviously troubled when he was striking the ball with his instep and that's why it was right to take him away from the football.
"But on the back of the work he has done today he seems to feel happy that the bone bruising has completely gone.
"If that is correct we can now step up on the football work, but he will not be involved at Blackburn.
"It will be nice to have him around for the Southampton game and hopefully for the rest of the season. "The last thing we need is any of our players injured and we certainly don't want Joe Cole out for too long."
Talking of another player on the injured list, Ian Pearce, he says:
"Ian is obviously a long term injury, and it must be frustrating for him to be able to work so hard in the gym but not be able to get on the training ground.
"But we must stay with what the consultant said that he will not be back to football until early December."
Glenn has also confirmed that Steven Clark and Anwar Uddin could go to Cheltenham on loan and says:
"They have had a trial game with Cheltenham and it is just an opportunity for them to get a game. "The reserve squad is that bit bigger because we haven't been sending players out on loan this year.
"So we just wanted to get some match match practice into them and if Sreve Cotterill likes one or both of them they can go out on loan."