Ian Black is not ready to start for Town

The once-capped Scotland international has had two reserve outings in blue and amber since signing a two-year deal as a free agent.

Black claimed last week that he's ready to start if called upon, but the 30-year-old midfielder hasn't had a pre-season.

And manager Micky Mellon believes the former Glasgow Rangers ball-winner isn't yet ready for 90 minutes in League One.

Mellon said: "He's available for the first team, but not for 90 minutes. It would be unrealistic to think that. He's still got work to do on his fitness levels to cover the whole 90 minutes.

"But we'll continue to keep getting him out of breath in training, we'll keep pushing his levels and keep working on his 'prehab' because he hasn't had a pre-season.

"I think he's still got a lot to do fitness-wise. He's round about 60 to 70 per cent fit at the moment as to where I believe I can get him.

"If I need him for a certain period, there's no doubt he'll do that. He's a very experienced player."

Mellon is confident Black, who was an unused substitute in Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Crewe, will soon be up to the levels required.

"He's working hard to get that full fitness," said the boss. "He took a knock in last Tuesday's game but he's fine – he's a big, tough Scotsman!

"We work really hard on making sure we find out players' weaknesses physically and we work very hard in the gym on fixing that.

"He's working hard on all that to get him up to speed so hopefully he doesn't get injured.

"Then we'll continually move him forward through the development games, so he's playing 70, 80, 90 minutes. But he's certainly fitter than when he first arrived."