Striker Michael Symes today returned to the Shrewsbury Town fold – with the challenge to reproduce his pre-injury red-hot form.The 24-year-old was due to return to first team training after spending the last two-and-a-half weeks on the sidelines with a knee problem which has ruled him out of the games against Morecambe, Gillingham and Chester.

Shrewsbury manager Paul Simpson is delighted to see the forward – who scored six times in two reserve games and bagged a League Two equaliser against Notts County before his setback – up and running again

“Symsey will be back training for the first time today,” said Simpson, who was a guest on Sky Sports’ Big League Weekend last night.

“Tomorrow’s reserve game (at home to Macclesfield) looks like it will be too soon for him to play and we are just concentrating on him getting a good week of training under his belt.

“He was in a really good vein of form at the time of his injury and the challenge is to try and get him back there as soon as possible.

“It’s a big boost for us to have Symsey and Richard Walker back because there was a time a couple of weeks ago when we were a bit short in the forward department.

“But with Grant Holt and Dave Hibbert, we will hopefully have four forwards pushing for places soon which is what we want.”

Meanwhile, Simpson has offered a positive update on defender Graham Coughlan after the Northern Irishman was forced off with a head injury near the end of the first half of Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Chester.

“Graham’s okay and will hopefully be training today as well,” he added. “The concern at the time was that he was getting pins and needles down his left hand side and was very groggy.

“But by the time he got back on coach he was getting better and he is fine .”

By James Garrison