Tom Bayliss battling for Shrewsbury fitness

The former Coventry City man joined Salop last summer from Preston North End, and he had a successful season at The Croud Meadow making 36 appearances and scoring six goals.

But his season was cruelly ended when he suffered ankle ligament damage in Town’s win against Morecambe in March.

Bayliss, who spent most of his time playing in the number 10 role under boss Steve Cotterill, then had surgery on his ankle.

The 24-year-old returned from injury in the first half of Town’s pre-season game against West Brom last weekend and he is building up his fitness ahead of the new season.

He said: “He is back in full training is Tom. He has worked hard over the summer he needs to work harder still because for us to see the best version of him he needs to get fit.

“He is aware of that, he is going to use the next few weeks in pre-season to do that.

“I think Tom is an exceptionally gifted footballer, our job is to keep pushing him every day. That is what we have to do as coaches and as staff.

“The one thing I would say is there is not one player since we have come in that has pushed back against anything. They seem to be in and that is all we can ask for.”

Bayliss joins Dan Udoh and George Nurse who are also returning from long injury lay-offs.