Injured Charlton Athletic duo could make playing return before end of January

Charlton Athletic head coach Michael Appleton is hoping that Terry Taylor and Conor McGrandles could be back available before the end of next month.

Taylor, a summer signing from Burton Albion, underwent ankle surgery in October.

Fellow midfielder McGrandles had been featuring under Appleton until he suffered a muscle strain at the start of December.

Appleton said: “There’s a chance that we might see the likes of Conor and Terry before the end of January.

“There’s no definite return date for Chuks [Aneke] at this moment in time because we’ve got to be really careful and obviously make sure that when he has re-scans it’s going in the right direction etc. Certainly with Conor and Terry it’s a little bit more promising in terms of being able to be available towards the end of January. The rest are obviously beyond January.

“Lucas [Ness] is up and running, but the reason him and Deji [Elerewe] have been out of it at the minute is because I don’t feel and see the need to have two centre-halves on the bench.

“From a tactical point of view, you would rather have as many attack-minded players in your squad rather than defensive. We’ve got plenty of cover with the likes of Terell [Thomas] and Nathan [Asiimwe].”

PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS