Shrewsbury Town handed Jason Sraha injury boost

There was concern the left-sided defender had not made enough progress as he tried to get over the ankle issue sustained in the defeat at Blackpool.

The Town boss had warned that if improvements were not made soon he may have needed to see a specialist to get to the crux of the matter.

But speaking before the game against Portsmouth this weekend, Taylor said that Sraha has made good progress this week on the training pitch and is much closer to being back involved.

“We have hopefully turned a corner with Jason,” he said. “He is back on the grass, and he reached 90 per cent of his max sprint speed on Wednesday and then he has been topped up again.

“While I am hopeful that it will be soon, we have got to be cautious with him, it is a difficult injury that he had with his ankle.”

He also confirmed Brandon Fleming is making progress too.

“Brandon is not back, in terms of being available in the squad yet,” he added. “It is going to take its time, but I tell you what is really positive is to see them both back on the grass, both back with their boots on and out of the gym.

“The gym is a bit too full at the moment with players that are not fit.

“When he will be available for selection we are not sure yet.”

What Taylor did confirm is that none of the other injured players for Town are now likely to return to action before the Christmas break which is a blow for his side.

He continued: “Having them back on the grass is a positive, but the other injuries in the treatment room there are none of them this side of Christmas that we might get back.

“That is disappointing, but again as a football club at the moment, those players have got into a habit of performing.

“I said the other day that if they can do it for each other it is far more powerful than being barked at and shouted at by me.

“They are doing it for each other at the moment and we have used the Blackpool game as a real hard rest for us – and it is looking positive.”