Clarke back in training; Toney could make comeback against Wigan

The Iron were handed another fitness boost this week, when it was revealed that Jordan Clarke was back in training – whilst Ivan Toney could return to the starting line-up against Wigan.

During his Thursday presser, Graham Alexander delivered the positive news with regards to Clarke, who has been missing since he tore his hamstring during the 2-0 victory over Charlton in late-November.

“Jordan has trained a couple of days this week, but he is still not up to his full speed,” Alexander told Scunthorpe-united.co.uk.

“That will come with more training days and more confidence in his hamstring.”

Toney picked up a knock during the 2-2 draw with Northampton in mid-February, and his absence has been during a time where United have struggled with fully fit strikers.

Lee Novak, too, has been missing, but although delivering some positive news about Toney, the United manager ruled out the former Charlton man for the difficult trip to Wigan on Saturday.

“Lee is not as good and hasn’t trained with us at all. His heel is still very sore.

“He won’t be available for the weekend and we have to keep our fingers crossed that it is not too long.

“We are going to see how he (Toney) is in training. He took part a little bit on Tuesday, so we have to see how he has recovered from that on his day off on Wednesday.

“We will speak to Ivan and judge him from our eyes as well to see if he is contention for Saturday.

“He came to me last Friday about playing on Saturday when he hadn’t even trained, which was fantastic from a mentality point of view.

“Last Friday I had to manage that because it wasn’t the right thing to do. If he trains the rest of this week, he gives himself the best chance.”

Murray Wallace worryingly went off with an injury in Saturday’s defeat to Oldham, but the Scot may yet take part against the Latics, Alexander confirmed.

“Murray, I think it was a little bit of cramp towards the bottom of his hamstring.

“He hasn’t trained this week, but I’m going to speak to Michael (McBride) to see if he can train.”

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