PHIL PARKINSON hopes an injection will allow Ollie Palmer to maintain his ever-present record but Rob Lainton remains some way off a comeback.

Record-signing Palmer has featured in all nine League Two games this season, although a niggling knee problem which he has been "managing" meant the striker was only a substitute for Saturday's 5-0 defeat at Stockport County.

"Ollie did some running on Monday to keep him active and he has had an injection in his knee," said Parkinson.

"He will rest up and we will look to get him back in training on Thursday.

"He has had a problem with his knee for a bit so we set him up for this jab and we are confident it will do the trick.

"Hopefully this injection will help him with the issue he has."

Palmer scored his second goal of the season against Grimbst but was taken off before the final whistle and was not risked from the start at Stockport, only appearing during the second half.

"Ollie twisted it awkwardly against Grimsby and he managed it a little bit during the week," said Parkinson.

"We didn't want to risk him too much against Stockport but had him on the bench if needed."

Experienced goalkeeper Rob Lainton hasn't featured this season because of a knee problem and is facing longer on the sidelines.

"Rob's still not making the progress we would have liked with his knee," said Parkinson.

"He is not where he needs to be at the moment.

"It is difficult for Rob but hopefully we will see him back out on the training ground in the coming weeks."

Jordan Tunnicliffe, who is yet to feature in the league this season due to a back problem, has taken part in another in-house practice game while fellow centre-back Eoghan O'Connell (hamstring) is set to return to training this week.

"Hopefully Eoghan will be back in full training by the end of the week while Jordan is building his way back up," added the Reds' boss.

"He is getting there but he's had a long period out with that back problem and we've got to make sure he's right."