After suffering a career-threatening double fracture last season, Craig Harrison is on the road to recovery and is targeting a November return for the Eagles.

Left-back Harrison, 25, who signed from Middlesbrough in 2000, suffered a double compound fracture of his leg during a reserve game in February and has been out ever since.

He told the Guardian: "The injury is coming on quite nicely. It's been five and a half months now and only two weeks ago I started jogging and I am now running at just under half pace for 15 minutes. It's still quite sore but is going to be for a long time I think.

"Hopefully I'll be back in November. They told me expect to be out for 14 months, because it was a bad double compound fracture but with everything going the way it's going, hopefully it will be about nine months.

"It has been a bad time and it has left a terrible scar but the lads have been great and the physios have taken time out to check that I'm okay.

"I think we are going to be up there again and hopefully we can push it that bit further and get into the play-offs. I can't see any reason why we can't, we've got the same players and hopefully no-one will go."

July 17, 2002 12:30