Nottingham Forest defenders Steve Cook and Max Lowe are “on course” as they continue to recover from injuries.
Both players were forced off during the Reds’ 4-0 rout over Reading last month. And they were left facing six weeks on the sidelines.
Lowe suffered a groin problem, having to be substituted towards the end of the first half against the Royals. It is the left-back’s second spell out of action with a groin issue, although boss Steve Cooper has said “it is a slightly different injury” to the one which saw him miss two months towards the end of last year. Forest are unlikely to want to rush him back into action, even though it isn’t exactly a recurrence of his previous injury.
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Centre-back Cook, meanwhile, had to come off late on against Reading with an ankle problem. Initially, he was left wearing a protective boot and using crutches, but has, at least, since dispatched with both.
Ahead of this Saturday’s clash with Birmingham City, Cooper said: “Max is going to be a little bit slower than Cookie, as we know. We haven’t seen them yet, in terms of being close to the training pitch.
“They are very visible around the training ground and on match days. They are on course, but there’s a little while to go yet.”
The Reds saw striker Lewis Grabban and defender Scott McKenna make their comebacks in last weekend’s victory at Blackpool. The former came off the bench, and his teammate was included in the starting XI - just as was the case in midweek, when Forest went fifth in the table with a 2-0 win over Coventry City.
