Jones understands frustrations over Hylton's lay-off

Town’s top scorer for the last two seasons has missed the last four matches after going off at half time during the 3-2 win over Shrewsbury Town on August 25.

Although back in training, the forward remains a doubt for this weekend’s League One clash against Charlton Athletic, as Jones admitted there isn't a definitive answer he can give over exactly when Hylton will return to action.

Speaking to the press this afternoon, he said: “He’s out with us on the grass, so we’ve just got to be careful as it’s such a tricky injury.

“I know people are frustrated because there’s not much come out about it, but there’s not much we can say.

“It’s not like we can say, ‘right, he’s torn his hamstring, it’s 10-14 days and he’ll be back.’

“He’s not torn anything, he hasn’t done anything, it’s just a neural issue which sends nerves into his hamstring, which when we push him, it’s come on a little bit.

“So we’ve just got to build him up and when we’re satisfied he’s ready for the exposure of first team football, then we’ll do that, because yes, we need him now, we want him now, any team in this league would miss Danny Hylton, but we also want him available for the majority of games.

“He’s frustrated, we’re frustrated that he’s not come back a little bit quicker, but it’s a process that we have to stick to.

“So he could be back for Saturday if everything goes well and no problem, it could be Tuesday, might be next week, we don’t 100 per cent know.

"But it’s not because we’re not doing our due diligence, we’re not able to recognise what’s wrong.

“We know where the injury is, we know everything about it, it’s just being comfortable enough to put him back out so that he doesn’t break down again.

“We don’t want him to be out, we want him to be back and playing, we’ve done every scan, every specialist possible and he’s fine, he’s getting there.

“He’s out (training), no problem.

"We could probably play him and I could probably get plenty out of him, but I won’t get 100 per cent and I won’t put him back in until he’s ready and until we’re satisfied and he’s satisfied that he can do what Danny Hylton does.”

There was better news surrounding the rest of the squad, after Alan McCormack and Lloyd Jones missed the trip to Blackpool last weekend, leaving Town’s bench looking very light, with the inclusion of Arthur Read and Jack Senior.

Jones added: “We’ve got a few back, we’ll be a lot stronger this week in terms of, without being disrespectful, we had a very youthful, very inexperienced bench.

“The squad will be far stronger, providing nothing happens tomorrow, so we’re back to a little bit more that’s like us.

“Hopefully we can continue in that vein, so coming into a real important period for us, we are near enough at full strength.”