Greg Taylor making progress to full return for Cambridge United
Greg Taylor will feature in a training match next week as a full return to Cambridge United action edges closer.
The 32-year-old defender has been out since suffering an ankle injury in the third match of the season at Plymouth Argyle in August.
He has been on the bench for two of the last three matches - against Luton Town and Burton Albion - but is still not quite up to full speed for the first team, so in order to get some match minutes under his belt will line-up in an arranged fixture next week.
“Greg is certainly making some good progress, he is training a lot,” said United head coach Mark Bonner.
“We’ve got an additional game next week for a lot of the younger players against Charlton which Greg will play a part in to try to build up some minutes and get him in games.
“It’s a big leap from training in small-sided games to playing 11v11 games in League One. We need to try to gradually build him up.”
Liam O’Neil did not feature in the 2-2 draw with Burton Albion last Saturday, but it is hoped that the midfielder will be back in contention to face Accrington Stanley at home on Saturday (February 19).
Lloyd Jones is the next in line for a return. He has had a slight setback after suffering from illness earlier in the week but it is expected that he will be able to make a match-day squad soon.
Shilow Tracey is also edging back to full fitness after an ankle injury.
“Shilow has had a really good training week and is making good progress but we need to see how he reacts over the next week,” said Bonner.
“Hopefully at some point very soon we can see him as part of it.”
Midfielder Jensen Weir has returned to parent club Brighton & Hove Albion to assist and speed up his return from a knee injury.
“Jensen Weir has gone back with Brighton for a little bit just to have a change of scenery really and get a little bit more hands-on care with the number of staff and facilities they’ve got there,” said Bonner.
“Hopefully he’s not too far away from returning to us or returning to training, but he’s not quite on the grass yet.
“He’s doing a lot of work in the pool on the anti-gravity running machine. Hopefully his knee settles down in that period.
“We joked last week that he could do some aqua work in the puddles on the training ground here, but he could go back and use the pool facilities there - we thought it was a better environment to go to!
“We’ve had a lot of players injured, and Mikey (Burroughs, United’s head of medical) and the medical staff have got a lot of players to deal with so for him to go and get that care and attention, and almost that change of scenery, where he’s got the best environment to work in, will hopefully speed that up and take away some of his frustrations.”
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