Aaron Pierre nearing his Shrewsbury Town return after two months out
Influential Shrewsbury Town defender Aaron Pierre is nearing a return from almost two months out with a calf injury.
The centre-back has taken part in full training at Sundorne Castle and is 'nearly there' in his bid to return to Steve Cotterill's first-team fold.
Pierre injured his leg muscle in the 1-0 home defeat to Crewe on February 2 and has missed 11 games.
Town welcome Portsmouth to Montgomery Waters Meadow on Saturday, with new boss Danny Cowley set to take charge of Pompey for a second time.
"He's getting closer and closer, he's definitely nearly there," said Town first-team coach David Longwell. "We don't want to put an exact day on it but he is getting closer.
"I was just doing some extra work with him after training just now, the technical aspects of it.
"He's progressing really well and he feels good. We're getting closer with him.
"He's nearly in full training, he's definitely doing the majority of it, we're progressing the right way.
"Like any player who has been out injured, we don't want them to break down again, he's getting up to speed with Jordan (Beech) and AJ (Andy Johnson).
"He is looking good to be fair, doing as much extra work as he can to be ready to go."
Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Ro-Shaun Williams and Matthew Pennington have built a solid partnership in Shrewsbury's back three in Pierre's absence.
Right-back Donald Love, meanwhile, is also on course to return from his groin injury after a month on the sidelines.
Love, 26, was impressing on his return to the Salop side. Josh Daniels has thrived in the right wing-back role since.
Longwell said: "They (Pierre and Love) are both on the same path, they are both looking good and definitely getting closer, with just got to get the timings right of putting them back in, that's where we have the benefit of having a good squad."
