BILLY Mitchell and Tyler Burey are in contention to feature in Saturday’s clash against West Brom.
Mitchell injured his ankle in a 1-0 defeat to Coventry City last month, while Burey damaged his hip in a 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United in the third round of the FA Cup back in early January.
However, both returned to training earlier this week and could be involved at The Hawthorns, while Mason Bennett [ankle] will likely miss the game as he aims to work his way back to match fitness in early April.
“They’ve only trained for a couple of days,” Gary Rowett told NewsAtDen.
“Billy trained on Monday, Tyler trained for a few more days with the under-21’s and then came in yesterday as well, so they’ve both trained this week so far. Benno is due to come back in on Thursday.
“I think the obvious ones really are whether Billy and Tyler will be up to speed to go back in the squad over the weekend. Mase probably wouldn’t have had enough training by then.
“They’ve been out for a while, six to eight weeks. It’s not easy to come straight back into the team or straight back into the squad. You’ve got to be confident that, when they step foot onto the pitch, they can do whatever you need them to do. That’s always difficult after a period out.
“Ideally we’d give them a little bit more training time, but at this point in the season, there’s not that long left, so you can’t wait three or four games to wait until they go back in the group.
“We’ll assess that over training and assess where we think they are, then we’ll make as good a decision as we can.
“It’s nice to have them back, it’s nice to have them back for the training numbers. I think it adds competition to the squad where people have got to perform to stay in the team. That’s what you want to create a good environment.
Rowett is waiting on further information on Callum Styles [quad], whose loan from Barnsley is set to expire at the end of the campaign, although Millwall retain an option to sign him on a permanent deal.
The club have received positive information on the Hungarian international, who could yet return before the end of the season. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of 19-year-old Aidomo Emakhu [hamstring], who will miss the rest of the campaign with a hamstring injury.
“I think he [Styles] is making quite good progress,” the manager added.
“We had some good news on a scan the other day. We’re waiting for the specialist to give us advice moving forward, but there’s a hope that he might be able to ramp up his progress and potentially be available for some games.
“Again, at this stage of the season, it’s difficult to have a definitive answer on that until they start training.
“Aidomo pulled his hamstring. He’ll be out for the rest of the season.
“It’s a bit of a blow for him because he was looking bright and sharp. He hasn’t played too many 90 minutes in his career and maybe he’s felt the intensity of training and games.
“Unfortunately, he just tweaked it towards the end of the game. He’s spent a little bit of time in the physio room and a little bit of time out on the pitch, so it’s been a sporadic six months for him.
“Hopefully he’ll learn and be stronger for next year.”
Photo: Millwall FC