Duo Back

Neil Mellor and Steve Lomas both came through 90 minutes of a reserve team friendly against Charlton on Tuesday afternoon.

"That is his first full game," says Roger Cross of Neil, who scored the goal, "and he had a half last week against Leicester, but he hurt the ankle he had stitches in.

"But now he has had 90 minutes though he is obviously a little bit short of match practice because it has been some time since he played.

"At least he had no reaction to any sort of contact he had today.

"And Lomy came through his first 90 minutes for a long time; it was important to get that one but I am sure he would like another one or two games under his belt."

It is the second 1-1 draw in a row after the game with Leicester last week about which Roger says:

"The game against Leicester was ever so good; we played well and deserved to win and I was really happy with that performance."

Included in both of those games was Chris Cohen, back from a four match ban and making his first team debut on Saturday against Sunderland.

"It was terrific even if it was only 10 minutes or so," says Roger.

TEAM: Bywater, Stockdale, Lumsden, Ferdinand, Cohen, Harewood, Lomas, McMahon [Tattam], Bunce, Mellor, Pearson.