Thomas on the way back

"Wayne Thomas should be jogging today," Cotterill said. "He's a tough lad and hopefully he can come through this. He's had a tough season for one reason or another but hopefully taking the captaincy off him has lightened his load a little bit.

"I felt he put in some good performances before he injury and for me it looked liked the supporters were getting back to forgiving him a little bit, and I was really pleased with that. He's a good lad who does some stupid things, probably like we all do, but he's had a tough year and hopefully he'll get his form back and be in the team before the end of the season."

The manager revealed that he was hoping to bring in a loan player following the injury to Thomas but that looks to be a non-starter. Cotterill said of that: "We were looking at bringing in a right back which has been a problem for us. There has been a certain player who I've been after since he transfer window and probably before.

"If I was to tell you the player or the name of the club, you could see why we perhaps haven't got him, and I don't think we will get him between now and the end of the season. That was a bit of a dampener last week because I really thought around Thursday that I might get him. It is a no go now though but Wayne should be there or thereabouts soon anyway."

The Clarets have just over a week left if they wish to strengthen the squad, the current loan window closes at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday of next week.