Defender Mark Little has been backed by manager Darren Sarll to be return from his injury sooner than the end of the year.
The right-back was the big name signing of the summer following his release by Bristol Rovers and picked up an injury in the pre-season friendly defeat to Forest Green Rovers at the end of July.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.
After that, the manager said he did not expect to see the former Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers player until at Christmas at the earliest.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s trip to Boreham Wood, Sarll said: “Mark has one more consultation with his surgeon which might be today and then hopefully that will determine his progress from now.
“But once he is out of that boot and weight bearing again, he will fly, the man is a consummate professional with incredible standards.
“He is very different to a lot of other senior players I have worked with because he still sees so much in front of him, so much more to achieve.
“You can get senior players that hold on and hold on, but Mark never sees it like that, he is a real driving force.
“I think once Mark gets his foot down, he will probably exceed timescales (for his recovery).”
The manager suggested that Little’s recovery meant he was not yet back involved with the squad, but spoke about striker Reuben Reid‘s role in supporting the squad and his coaching team.
Reid is also expected to be out until the end of the year after picking up a hamstring injury in pre-season.
Sarll said: “Reuben is one of the most charismatic, influential people that I have worked with and has a huge impact on how people feel and think, even to the coaching staff.
“The first thing Reuben said to me after the game was ‘that is not a weekend ruiner’ and I thought that is a different way of looking at it, so we try and use what we have at our disposal.”
The boss added that the club’s supporters can also play an important role in helping his young squad through the campaign.
The squad has an average age of just 24.3 years, including the likes of injury victims Little, Reid and Luke Wilkinson, whilst their opponents on Saturday have the oldest squad in the division with an average age of 30.2 years.
Sarll said: “It is an important role that supporters play for us because if (the young players in the squad) get a sense of negativity in the ground, that is not going to help us this year.
“They are not Rhys Murphy who would just stick his fingers up and carry on playing, they have not seen that yet, so the role of supporters is huge.
“If I got any of those new, young players in and said what has been your best experience, they would undoubtedly say either Aldershot away or Stockport away.
“Because of the connection with the supporters and the love and affection they felt from that will stay with them, and they will thrive of those moments.”