ANTON McElhone says utility man Kyle Jacobs is on track in his recovery from a hamstring injury.

The South African has been out of action since picking up the injury in their 2-1 win over Dunfermline on December 12.

Adverse weather conditions affected Jacobs' return to training last week but McElhone hopes to welcome back the South African to first-team action soon.

The Ton boss told the Tele: “Kyle’s just been unfortunate with the kind of injury that he’s had.

“It was a hamstring injury where he’s overstretched the muscle, so it takes a little bit longer to come back from that.

“It also doesn’t help that it’s happened over the Christmas period as well, where there are so many games condensed together, as it makes it feel as if he’s been out longer than he actually has been.

“Kyle was in a position of being able to return to training this week, but again the problem is what he can and can’t do because of the surface.

“That’s a standard issue but he’s nearing full fitness which is a great boost for us going forward.

“He’ll need a few weeks to get back up to speed, which is part and parcel of the injury that he had, but we’ve got games coming up that we can ease him back into things to build him back up.

“When you lose out on one or two of the senior players like Kyle Jacobs or Brian McLean, you see the age of the squad come down massively.

“What you’ve got to look at is that Brian McLean is a massively experienced pro with over 400 games under his belt, Kyle Jacobs at 29 with 300 plus games, so they’re experienced players that we need in the spine of the team.”