CRAIG HIGNETT is happy with the progress made by his long-term injured players.

Carl Magnay is out with damaged knee ligaments, while Nathan Thomas is recovering from surgery to repair a tore groin.

While it would be a welcome surprise to see Magnay back before the season ends, it is planned that Thomas should return by the end of January.

Thomas suffered the injury in the defeat at Barnet earlier this month, while Magnay’s injury came in the home draw with Mansfield in mid-September.

Boss Hignett, speaking at this morning’s press conference ahead of the weekend trip to Wycombe, said: “Nath and Mags are progressing nicely. They are still some way off, but Mags is a bit ahead of schedule with movement in his knee. He’s flying.

“Nath is a bit sore from the op still and is up and moving and I think he’s going to about eight weeks at least. Maybe more, as when he’s back training he will need a bit of a pre-season under his belt to get him back up to a level of fitness.

“You can’t rush them back and it’s going to be a while yet. He is scheduled to be fit somewhere around the end of January, so let’s see what happens.’’

Jordan Richards and Liam Donnelly both missed the midweek win over Accrington, but Hignett said: “Jordy and Liam are OK. Jordy could have played the other night, but Liam is out training again now, nothing serious.’’

Accrington, meanwhile, have appealed against the red card issued to defender Mark Hughes on Tuesday.

Referee Richard Clark felt Hughes denied Padraig Amond a scoring opportunity in the second-half and also awarded Pools a penalty.

Stanley boss John Coleman said: “It was a no brainer to appeal. A decision was made for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity and the player was nowhere near the ball and had no chance of ever getting to the ball.

“A few top refs who have watched it with me have agreed that they don’t think it’s a foul. We can only say that it’s an unfortunate error and let’s hope we don’t pay more of a price with a suspension.’’