Steve Bruce is hoping Gary Hooper can be the latest striker to force his way back into the first team reckoning before the end of the season.
Hooper, sidelined for 15 months with a groin injury, continued his long road to recovery with a goal in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Scunthorpe this week.
With our next Championship game at Stoke on March 30, Bruce says: “Whether the Stoke game is too early for Hooper we’ll have to see but he has certainly trained over the last two or three weeks and is doing extra, putting himself about and giving himself every chance.”