AFC Telford United boss Rob Smith has been given a boost ahead of the trip to Leigh RMI tomorrow – with striker Michael Husbands on the verge of extending his loan.The Macclesfield marksman had been thought to have played his last game for the club after damaging knee ligaments in Tuesday’s 4-2 Setanta Shield defeat at Nuneaton.

Smith had initially feared that would rule the marksman out for five to six weeks, ending the possibility of extending his loan.

But club physios have now ruled that he should be fit in 10 days to a fortnight. And, while that rules him out of tomorrow’s clash at Hilton Park, it means he could yet have a part to play over the hectic Christmas programme.

“It’s not as bad as we first feared,” confirmed Smith of a player who has scored in the last two games. “He’ll travel with the squad tomorrow because he’s still our player at the moment.

“The loan ends on Tuesday or Wednesday but we’ve already spoken to Macclesfield with a view to taking him for another month when he’s fit.

“We’ve got Justin Marsden coming back, but I don’t think you can have too much of a good thing.

“We’ve got good competition up front, but if we’re serious about doing anything in the league then we need that.”

The Bucks’ meeting with Leigh tomorrow sees them up against the side currently propping up the Blue Square North – though Smith insists they will not be taking a victory for granted.

“This season we’ve done better against the teams down the bottom but we need to keep that up,” he said. “It still sticks in my memory that we were awful against those sort of sides last year, and it probably cost us the championship.”

Left wing-back Simon Forsdick had been considered a doubt for tomorrow’s clash due to a swollen ankle picked up at Nuneaton, but Smith is now optimistic about his chances.