Josh Vela and Jordan Jones are close to making their Carlisle United comebacks, Mark Hughes has revealed.
The duo have taken part in a full training session today as they return from calf and foot injuries respectively.
While Thursday’s trip to Barrow may come too soon for the duo, they could be back available to Hughes next week.
“Josh is back in full training,” Hughes said of the midfielder who has been out since mid-December.
“We’ll see how he goes this week. Thursday might be a little bit early for him, but he’s very close.
“As long as he has a good run at it in terms of training-wise, he’s going to be an option soon.”
Wide man Jones is also close to a comeback with United relieved his foot injury has not proved to be as serious as first feared.
The former Rangers, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic man has missed United’s last four games and has yet to feature since Hughes replaced Mike Williamson at the helm.
Both Jones and Vela could come into consideration for next Tuesday’s home clash with Walsall.
“He joined in the initial part of the session this morning, and has come through it okay, so that's a positive,” said Hughes of Jones.
“He’s not likely to be involved on Thursday, unfortunately, but it would be good to be able to welcome him back as well.
“He's closer than he has been. Initially we thought he was going to be out for a significant length of time, but thankfully his injury has resolved itself more quickly.”
Hughes said Georgie Kelly is not yet ready to make his own comeback while other players, such as Charlie Wyke and Paul Dummett, remain sidelined for longer.
The head coach, meanwhile, said Callum Guy and Archie Davies have shown no ill-effects from their first outings for some time against Gillingham.
Midfielder Guy returned from illness to play for the first time since mid-December, while Davies’ outing at right-back was his first since October following a shoulder problem.
“They’ve been training, they were able to have a decent chunk of the game as well and came through unscathed,” Hughes told the News & Star.
“Arguably, they're good to go again. That's encouraging for us.
“We are getting good players back, ones that without a doubt we'll be able to use from now to the end of the year. That's important.”
