Since the opening day, Vale have fell victim to injuries to several first team players, which has hampered options available.

Earlier today, manager Michael Brown provided the club’s official website with an injury update.

“He [Rob Lainton] is coming on very well, and he showed me that he even has a muscle in his quad”, he joked.

The 40-year old continued: “He’s an infectious character, the boys like him, and we look forward to getting him back on the football pitch as soon as we can.”

Along with Lainton, another player who is well on the way to returning to fitness is striker Tyrone Barnett, after only making one appearance in a Vale shirt: “Tyrone [Barnett] came from Wimbledon after not playing for a while, and he picked that injury up pre-season.

“It is great to see him train extremely hard at the moment and he is not far away. He is looking a lot leaner, a lot fitter and we have set him a fitness program which will hopefully get him raring to go.

“He’ll be back out on the grass with us, and he has started doing some ball work now so he should not be too far away.”

Despite the encouraging words on Vale’s number 14, Brown concedes that Vale are not going to rush him back: “We might still be talking a couple of weeks, mind, we have to make sure he is okay. But he has worked very, very hard and that is what has impressed me.

“He was in a frustrating place where you’re not in as good condition physically, and he probably hasn’t played the games that he would have liked at Wimbledon, so we are working with him and hopefully he can hit the ground running.

“It will take a bit of time for such a big lad to get going, but he will certainly be a great addition for us.”