Scunthorpe United are hopeful they are starting to see light at the end of tunnel when it comes to injuries to key members of their first team squad.

But the Iron are sweating on Jimmy Ryan, who has picked up a calf problem as he recovers from the knee injury that has sidelined him since the middle of September.

Winger Andy Barcham has returned to training after missing the last two matches and boss Alan Knill is confident centre-back Paul Reid will do the same tomorrow after being forced off at Bournemouth 11 days ago with a groin injury.

The United manager is also pleased with the progress being made by Jordan Robertson (broken ankle) and club captain Cliff Byrne (back).

Both players were on the bench during last weekend's FA Cup stalemate at AFC Wimbledon, though Knill confirmed today that was primarily because Scunthorpe are so short on available bodies.

But each completed 90 minutes during the reserves' 4-0 defeat at Rotherham United on Monday and are improving all the time.

"Jordan didn't train yesterday because he was a little staff," said Knill.

"He did really well on Monday, but he's feeling it a bit now.

"It was great to see him complete 90 minutes. We weren't quite sure what we were going to do, but when we asked him he said he felt okay, so good for him.

"Cliff though has trained and has had no real reaction.

"He looked a little tired at the end of training yesterday, but that's probably understandable.

"It's good that he's got another 90 minutes under his belt.

"We've been playing him at centre-back to ease him back in, but we might put him at right-back next time so he has to do a little bit more work.

"He probably needs another couple of games before he's ready for the first-team and Jordan will be pretty much the same."

There is also promising news surrounding Damien Mozika, who is out of the protective cast that had been aiding his recovery from an ankle problem.

Knill says the former Chester City and Bury midfielder has been running again, though 'looked a little tentative'.

Nevertheless, the United boss is pleased to finally see some progress on the injury front, given his side were missing eight players against the Dons.

"It's nice to see players coming back, it's just not happening quick enough," he said.

"You want to change things around, but you're limited to what you can do.

"We'd rather they were all back a lot quicker."

Although not too concerned at this stage, Scunthorpe must wait to see whether the opposite applies to Ryan, who 'tweaked' his calf muscle at the beginning of the week.

The former Accrington Stanley ace, whose creativity has been badly missed, has not played since damaging knee ligaments minutes after scoring an injury-time equaliser for the Iron at Walsall.

Ryan was running around last week, but has had to take things steady for the past couple of days while the club monitor the potential setback.

"I don't know what he's done, but he's felt something in his calf so he had a rest yesterday," added the Iron manager.