Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst gives Tom Flanagan injury update

The Shrewsbury Town centre-back injured his knee during Town’s 2-1 win against Port Vale at the end of November.

And while his injury looked a serious setback initially, scans revealed it was not as severe as first thought. And he is now edging ever closer to a return.

Hurst said: “Tom might join in a couple of warm-ups this week.

“He has been out for some time now so he is not suddenly going to be available for Reading next week.”

But the head coach did praise the experienced defender for the attitude he has shown around the training ground and the impact he and other senior players have had.

He continued: “But what I would say, is that he is around the training ground every day anyway, in terms of his experience along with likes of Aaron (Pierre), Chey (Dunkley) Benno (Elliotbt Bennett) and Carl Winchester is going to be crucial.

“We need that, we need it to drive the players, we need it to pick people up who might perhaps be a little bit down, to help the younger players and maintain standards for training.

“There are lots of goings on, and people are telling me he is better (Flanagan) so I have no reason to disbelieve them, and I hope it is not just to make me happy.

“But we have got to drive that and keep driving it, to improve as much as we can between now and the end of the season.”