Blackburn Rovers' England defender Graeme Le Saux could be sidelined until early November.

But Le Saux is making healthy progress after suffering an ankle injury in the 5-1 Premiership win over Coventry City last month.

It was at first thought Le Saux would only be sidelined for a fortnight. But an X-Ray revealed a slight fracture of the fibula when he had the plaster cast removed last week.

"He is back in light training and doing very well," said Rovers physio Steve Foster.

"The plaster is off now and his movement is quite good. It is just a matter of time."

Le Saux was injured after an accidental collision with Coventry's Kevin Richardson.

Meanwhile, injury-plagued Rovers striker Kevin Gallacher has hit the comeback trail.

Gallacher played 45 minutes of Saturday's Pontins League fixture against Liverpool at Southport's Haig Avenue. "He just played for the first half and we took him off at the break as a precaution," said Jim Furnell.

"He was a little bit sore and was aching a bit. We will just see how he reacts over the next day or two."

Gallacher has not featured in Premiership action for Rovers since the opening game of the season against Queens Park Rangers at Ewood Park.

The Scottish international broke down with a hamstring problem during training a week after and has been battling with the injury ever since.

Now, depending on whether Gallacher has any reaction from his comeback match, Rovers will consider him for tomorrow night's reserve team fixture against Everton on Merseyside. Rovers, who drew with Liverpool 0-0, fielded a largely inexperienced side with only Paul Warhurst and Matty Holmes with any first team experience.

"They gave a good account of themselves and it was a reasonable performance," he added.

**James Beattie was on the mark as Blackburn Rovers A team drew 1-1 with Preston North End. The B team defeated Chester A 2-1 with goals from James Thomas and Martin Rimmer.

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