Defenders Neil Clement, Martin Albrecthsen and Carl Hoefkens have given Tony Mowbray an early Christmas present with the trio returning from injury. Long-term injury victim Clement and fellow centre-half Martin Albrecthsen have been included in the reserve squad to face Bradford this afternoon as they continue their comebacks with Belgium international Hoefkens declaring himself fit for Saturday's journey to his former club Stoke (KO 3pm).
Clement,
Hoefkens will be hoping to make an immediate return after losing his place to Shelton Martis and Jared Hodgkiss in the last two league fixtures after pulling a hamstring in the 4-2 defeat to
The return of trio has coincided with the return from injury of James Morrison and Ishmael Miller to training with goalkeeper Dean Kiely expected to return before Christmas. Although not yet ready for any competitive action, the return has caused a welcome selection headache for the manager.
"It's a pleasant scenario to have a team that, at this moment, is functioning okay and some players coming back who, earlier in the season, were fixtures in the side," Mowbray said.
"It creates competition which is obviously very healthy.
"Earlier in the season, when we went on a decent run, we had lots of competition.
"We had selection issues every week.
"Who was going to be left out, who was going to play?
"The bench was strong and we had players who could come on and make an impact," Mowbray continued
"I've always said, it's not my job to keep people happy.
"They've got to keep me happy.
"I'll just try to pick a team to win each football match."