Josh Gordon knows he needs time to work his way back to top form for Walsall

The 26-year-old damaged his medial knee ligament on October 10 and has been in rehab ever since.

He made a surprise return to the squad on Wednesday, coming off the bench to net a late equaliser from the penalty spot against Stevenage.

Now, with the game against Tranmere Rovers coming so soon after the midweek stalemate, Gordon knows he needs to build himself back up to a starting berth.

When asked how he is feeling, he said: “Good, I’ve still got a long way to go.

“Match minutes, timing and my brain is going quicker than my legs at the minute, but it’s progress – I’m getting there now and I’m happy to get a goal.

“It’s nice, it’s been a long journey, seven weeks now. It’s nice to be around the lads again training.

“Still when I’m playing it’s that confidence of going in for them tackles and them little kicks like that.

“We’re a good group of lads anyway so being around them at the training ground, they still keep me involved and that helped me get through these seven weeks.

“The only downfall is the games I’ve missed because it’s been Saturday-Tuesday, but I’m happy to be back.”

When asked if this was the first long-term injury of his career, Gordon added: “First and last! At the start it was quite mentally challenging, but I’ve got a good group of lads around me.

“It’s about staying fit now, that’s the main thing. As the games go on I’m not going to come back the same person straight away, it’s going to take me a couple of games to get back to how I was, but happy just to come on and get a goal.”

Gordon only returned to training this week and was somewhat surprised to be handed a 30-minute cameo on Wednesday.

But manager Darrell Clarke has praised his forward for his return as he aims to help him fully recover over the coming weeks.

“It was fantastic (to see him back),” Clarke said.

“Josh will give us that boost. If we keep him fit and get Holden back in, hopefully we can start being a lot more threatening going forward.

“He’s only had two days of full contact football so let’s give him a lot of credit.

“I thought it was worth taking that opportunity (by bringing him on).

“He’s done all the injury rehab that you expect him to do and he’s had a couple days of contact.

“It was a medial knee ligament injury and it looks to have healed very, very well. It’s nice to have him back amongst the group.

“We have to be careful with him a little bit, to be honest with you.

“It’s early doors and we’ll get him through some training and minutes now and then. Then hopefully we get him back competing for the first XI.”

Walsall head to Prenton Park tomorrow in poor form – winless in their last four League Two games.

Tranmere, on the other hand, have won their last five in a resurgence under new manager Keith Hill.

Although Clarke was frustrated at the draw with Stevenage this week he insists he side do not worry about facing any team in this division, regardless of form.

“There’s no difference in teams,” he said.

“The table obviously tells you different with a bit of consistency but for me it’s 11 against 11 in pro football. Stevenage beat a Hull team that’s top of League One. League One and League Two is very close anyway and top and bottom of League Two is very close.

“We don’t lose sleep over who we play.

“We’ll go to Tranmere and take the positives that we managed to grab a late goal.

“It doesn’t matter who you play in this division, you have to win games.

“Only hard work and not feeling sorry for ourselves gets you out of that.

“We’ve only lost three games, drew nine and only won three.

“That’s very frustrating from my perspective. We’re better than that.”