MANAGER, Paul Merson has been given a boost with the news that Ian Roper's hamstring injury is not as bad as first feared.

The no-nonsense central defender was forced out of The Saddlers' FA Cup third round replay victory over Barnsley at half-time on Tuesday evening after pulling his hamstring and is likely to be out for around ten days. "At first we thought he would be missing for weeks," said Merson. "But now the injury has settled down, it's not as bad as we first thought and we are looking at getting him back in action in just over a week."

Nevertheless, the manager is considering the possibility of recalling youngster Scott Dann from his loan spell at non-League Redditch United. "I think that it's time we brought Scott back and had a closer look at him," added Merson. "We need to know if he is going to be good enough for next season and this might be the opportunity for him to come back and show us what he can do."

The 18 year-old has impressed for the youth and reserve teams in recent seasons and signed his first professional contract in the summer of 2004. After spending a loan spell in Denmark at the end of last season, the Liverpool-born centre-back linked up with Redditch United in October 2005 and has done well for the Conference North outfit.

Skipper, Chris Westwood is set to replace Roper in the starting line-up at Chesterfield on Saturday (kick-off 3.00pm).

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