Alex Pearce adds to our defensive options for our first ever trip to Salford City tomorrow, having been able to train with the squad.

The experienced centre-back has been missing from Johnnie Jackson’s line-up since he had to come off early on with a groin injury, in our two-all draw at Bradford City back in September.

“Pearcy has been training all week,” said Johnnie after Friday training and just before setting off. “He’ll be with the group that travels, and we’ll decide if he’s going to be involved on the pitch.”

Johnnie will have to do without in-form Ayoub Assal, who registered his seventh goal of the season in Tuesday night’s victory at home to leaders Leyton Orient, but there’s encouraging news about the return of Brentford loanee Nathan Young-Coombes up front.

“Everyone came through the game, but Ayoub misses out due to suspension following a fifth booking,” said Johnnie. “While we’re without him, it’ll be an opportunity for someone else to come in and stake a claim. As far as injuries, everyone has come through it brilliantly.

“We’ve got a few on the brink of suspension and we’ve had a chat with them, telling them to make sure they don’t pick up any ‘silly’ bookings. If you have to make tackles and compete – that’s football, there’s not much you can do about that. It’s the avoidable ones that we want to try and avoid!

“Josh Davison (glute) and Ethan Chislett (shin) both came out of the game tired from the shifts they’d put in. ‘Chis’ got through the ninety minutes, having missed out on the cup tie against Weymouth, so it was good that he managed that.

“With that though comes the necessary recovery strategies you need to put in place to go again at the weekend, but everyone who trained today looked good. When the team is winning everyone wants to be a part of it and they’ll all be looking to go again this Saturday."

“Nathan Young-Coombes is pretty much back in full training with Brentford. They want to oversee that for a few days and make sure that he comes through the sessions and then look to integrate him back with us as soon as possible. After the weekend, we’ll be discussing how soon we can get him back involved with us.”

Eighth in the table Salford stand between us and making it seven games unbeaten at the Peninsula Stadium this weekend.

“I think they’ve done fantastic,” said Johnnie. “They’ve had a lot of high-profile investment into the club, made gradual steps up the ladder and into the league and established themselves. I think they’ve done brilliantly up to this point. We know we’ve got a really tough game, but we go there in a good place with a decent momentum behind us and looking for the win.”

You can see the full preview with Johnnie Jackson below, via the link to our official YouTube channel.