Carlisle United star Omari Patrick is inching nearer a return to action after a complete absence from pre-season.
With United at their Largs training camp, Patrick has been seen working again with the squad.
Manager Paul Simpson said: “The good news with Omari is that he’s been back on the grass. He’s done some work before this game, so we’ll keep building him up and hope that he’ll be available come the first game of the season.”
Simpson, preparing his squad for the EFL launch on July 30, has had one or two injury issues to contend with.
Morgan Feeney took a knock on his head early-on against Bolton and the doctor advised the club that he wouldn’t be ready to play at Largs in Tuesday’s friendly with Livingston.
Simpson said: “He’s done a lot of work over the last couple of days, but with no contact at all.
“He did a little bit more on Tuesday morning and we’re expecting that he should be able to join training by the end of the week and be available for Saturday.
“Bren Dickenson took a dead leg and that’s still a bit sore. We’ll keep working with him, hopefully he’ll be available for the weekend.”
Carlisle are at Morecambe on Saturday, leaving a week to prepare for the visit of Crawley in the opening League Two game.
After the 1-0 defeat by Livingston at Largs, Simpson said: “It was a tough test, but that’s why we arranged it. We knew it was going to be a tough game for us. The heat is a big test for us as well, but I thought for long periods we did a lot of good things.
“I’m obviously disappointed to lose, but it’s pre-season and Livingston are a good side. We’ve learned a lot of things and hopefully the players will learn a lot as well when we go through the review of it.
“It’s really hard in pre-season because you can get lulled into that nicey, nicey football situation and it’s not real enough, and then it isn’t specific to what we’re going to face in League Two.
“We allowed the game to go away from ourselves and that did give them the lift they needed. It’s an extension of training, we wanted it to be that, and we’ve got lads who’ve played for 90 minutes and a big group who got 60 minutes.
“We’ll just keep building and hope they’re all fit come that first game against Crawley.”
