Rangers loanee Ross McCrorie and Tom Naylor hand Portsmouth injury boost ahead of Peterborough visit - could even play against Northampton

The duo have returned to training following injury and could feature in the Leasing.com Trophy game against Northampton on Tuesday night.

Manager Kenny Jackett will reassess their fitness tomorrow lunchtime before making a decision.

But even if they don't line up against the Cobblers, they are expected to be considered for the important League One game against Peterborough on Saturday.

Captain Naylor limped out of the Blues’ FA Cup first-round game with Harrogate with a hamstring injury and has missed Pompey’s past three games.

On-loan Rangers midfielder McCrorie suffered a similar problem against Southend and has subsequently been ruled out of four matches.

Regardless of when Jackett plans to use them again, the manager is delighted to have both players back ahead of a busy schedule between now and the new year.

He said: 'McCrorie and Naylor are both fit and were ready this morning, which is good news, along with Sean Raggett who has just come back, too.

'That just leaves us with Jack Whatmough and Bryn Morris at the moment as the only boys that are injured.

'So it would be nice to keep that squad right the way through to Christmas if we can and see if we can continue to get wins.

‘We'll see (if they feature against Northampton), we'll have them in training tomorrow morning and then make my decision by tomorrow lunchtime.

'Obviously there's a big game at the weekend (against Peterborough).

'But, similarly, it's good to see them back and we'll see how they feel, how their fitness is, what type of assurances we get from the medical team in terms of their injuries and then look forward to the games.’