AFTER Darnell Fisher made a return to first-team training after a lengthy injury lay off, Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder was quick to praise the defender on his rehabilitation work behind the scenes but has dampened any expectations of an immediate return to action.

Fisher’s last game for Boro was back in April 2021 in a 2-1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers. The right-back suffered a knee injury last summer that ruled him out for the whole of last season and he has not featured since. In total, he has made just 12 appearances for Boro since making the move from Preston North End nearly two year ago.

As he works his way back into contention, Fisher has been in full training at Rockliffe with the first-team squad over the international break. The Boro boss gave the defender a lot of credit for overcoming a number of obstacles alongside his recovery.

Wilder said: “It’s fabulous news for Darnell. For him to go through the process of him being out for 15 months is so tough. Work away from the lights in the gym with the medical department and the conditioners when everything else is going off.

“All the stuff that was happening last year when we first came to the football club. He’s looking and I should imagine he’s thinking ‘I’d love to be a part of that’ knowing that he has got to go through the process. An enormous amount of credit should go to the boy in terms of the work he has done.”

While his return away from the gyms to the grass is a source of encouragement for Boro, the manager admitted Fisher isn’t in line to make an appearance in a Boro shirt anytime soon and has effectively written off his chances of featuring this year.

“He’s still got a long way to go” Wilder continued. “It’s not a case of he gets on the grass and he is available next Saturday. You’ve still got to go through the process of training regularly with the first-team in that intensity, getting minutes under his belt for the 21’s and then seeing where he is.”

“I think he is still New Year at the very best in terms of seeing him and maybe even longer. We had a chat about it yesterday. We can’t push him too much, we can’t expect too much of him but for him and us it’s really positive news.”

Meanwhile, Boro received a triple injury boost ahead of this weekend’s game against Coventry City with Chuba Akpom, Darragh Lenihan and Zack Steffen all set to be involved after overcoming their own respective injury problems.