Sidelined Darlington striker Andrew Nelson hopes to take the next step in his recovery on Friday when he has an injection aimed at helping heal his troublesome knee problem.

He will have a platelet-rich plasma injection, a relatively new treatment aimed at accelerating the healing process.

Darlington sport therapist Danny O’Connor hopes it will alleviate Nelson’s knee bother, first sustained last year while with Torquay, and has led to him missing the last five matches.

He has not played since last month’s 3-0 defeat at Southport, which is where Darlington return to in FA Trophy action on Saturday.

“He aggravated his knee at Southport,” explained manager Alun Armstrong. “We’ve got to get him past the point where he’s dealing with the pain. He’s frustrated and fans want him on, but we cannot do it until he’s right.

“We’ve been getting 20 minutes out of him, how much damage is that doing to his knee? We don’t know yet.

“He’s hitting brick walls constantly, but he works hard and wants to get back. We can be patient with him, but we need him on the pitch and there’s got to be a point where he goes for it.

“We’ve done loads of fitness work. Danny’s got him in the pool all the time, so we’ll keep working with him but I want him fit before the Christmas period and that can give me an option.”