Cheltenham Town's senior sports therapist provides the latest information on the club's injured players.

Long term injured pair Damian Spencer and John Finnigan are making progress, while Gavin Caines has now returned to action with 20 minutes for the first team against Stoke City in midweek. There are also a number of short term injuries to various players.

Gavin Caines
With seven subs in the Carling Cup it gave us the opportunity to use Gavin. The thinking was that if we'd had a reserve game this week we'd have given him 20 or 30 minutes anyway so it was an opportunity to try and change the game and give him some time on the pitch. He came through it with no problems.

Damian Spencer
Damian is about four weeks away from going back into training. He's at Lilleshall this week and we've got ongoing tests that tell us about the strength he has regained in his thigh muscles. He is making progress but it's not quite enough yet to step him up to full training.

John Finnigan (heel/ankle)
We can't put a date yet on when John will be back in full training. He's been doing some training this week but is still having good days and bad days. He'll train for two days then come off for a day so we're constantly analysing it to try and determine when we will be confident enough to step him up to the next stage.

Scott Brown (ankle)
Scott has trained all this week. He's happy enough with it and we've had three x-rays and a specialist visit to confirm there is no major damage. Training is not making it any worse so we are keeping him going to maintain his general fitness and each day is getting better. We're not in a position to consider him for Saturday but he may be available for the Huddersfield game the week after.

David Bird (ankle)
David has progressed this week on a daily basis and he's gone back into training today (Thursday). He's come through it ok so we'll have another look tomorrow and hopefully he will be available for Saturday.

Shane Duff
Shane is doubtful for Saturday with an Achilles strain. He first felt it towards the end of the Oldham game and it returned in the second half on Tuesday so we took him off as a precaution. Hopefully he will benefit from that decision but it may take a few days to get right.

Dean Sinclair (ankle)
Dean picked up a little niggle just before he joined us which he aggravated at Oldham. We've rested him this week and given him some intensive treatment and he has responded very well. He's trained today (Thursday) and is much happier with it so will be available for Saturday.

Jennison Myrie-Williams
Jennison picked up a dead leg at Oldham and his running was not 100%. By leaving him out on Tuesday we've guaranteed that he could play against Leicester. If he had played on Tuesday then there's a good chance we might have lost him for a game or two so it was a decision we had to take. He's also trained today and is fine.