- by Chris Mortley

Doncaster Rovers defender Byron Webster has this week stepped up his recovery from a broken metatarsal, resuming training with the first team - albeit on an intermittent basis.

The towering centre half has been out for a long stretch of time, recovering from an elbow injury sustained in last season's away draw against Sheffield United, before breaking a metatarsal in training.

Surgeons have inserted a pin in the foot to rectify the problem and Webster, who joined Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 2009, has now started to train with the team once more.

The timing is nothing short of perfect, with news revealed this week that fellow defender Wayne Thomas could be sidelined for weeks as he recovers from a small fracture to his knee.

"Byron is back in training on and off," confirmed Rovers manager Sean O'Driscoll.

"He's coming back into the squad and he trained on Monday, before being rested Tuesday in a sense as he didn't train with the squad. He trained with us again on Wednesday and once again he was rested today."

"He's got this one awkward spot which we're trying to manage and John Dickens (Rovers head physio) has an idea of what it might be, but we don't want to go down the road of having another operation to solve it."

"He's found it difficult just coming back into training. You can do all of the work you want to in the gym but it's difficult to come back into it. Rather than pushing him, he's having one day on and one day off and if he gets no reaction, then we will push him on as quick as we can."