Don's A Diamond

Glenn Roeder already has the boost of Don Hutchison being all but recuperated from a lengthy lay-off ahead of the return of Fredi Kanoute and Paolo Di Canio in the next fortnight.

"Don is progressing in the right direction, back to full fitness, and it is a shame we haven't got a reserve game this week to get 90 minutes football into him - he needs that," says Glenn.

"But the important thing is, he is fit and healthy, training hard, and he loves his football.

"It is still going to be tough for him to get over the loss of his father recently but Don is motivated and certainly prepared to put the team before himself and play wherever I ask him to play.

"He had a very difficult day to get through the Monday before last with his father's funeral but he was involved in the Newcastle game.

"It has been a tough eight or nine months for Hutch culminating in the tragic news of his father but I have looked at him and he is keen to play."