Lee McEvilly will go to Lilleshall for a week of intensive tests and rehabilitation next week and Jimmy Quinn hopes he will be fit to play a part in the final games of the season.

The team has missed the strength and presence of the big, bustling striker in the games since he was stretchered off at the Abbey Stadium a fortnight ago in the match against Woking; indeed, the U's have only taken one point from those four games.

McEvilly's ruptured ankle ligaments are on the mend and Quinn hopes the Accrington Stanley loanee will be "not too far away from fitness" when he returns to the Abbey Stadium at the end of next week.

"Hopefully he'll be fit for the play-offs if we finish in the top five. Tactically we've missed him because we don't have a replacement for him in the squad with his size and strength, so the sooner he's back the better."

Strike partner Lee Boylan was also missing from the starting line-up at Kidderminster last Saturday, confined to the bench for the first hour due to a trapped nerve in his back that was causing a problem with a hamstring.

But United's leading scorer is expected to return at Droylsden, confirmed Quinn.

"I would have liked to have started with him last weekend but he felt his hamstring on the Friday and if he'd pulled it he probably wouldn't play any further part this season, so we didn't risk him.

"He's probably the only natural goalscorer we've got and he's OK now so I think we did the right thing in not playing him from the start.

"The whole picture is brightening up all the time with Danny Brown coming back and Ben Farrell back in training with us this week too," the manager added. "It gives us more options and better competition for places."

"To be honest, there have been one or two players in recent weeks that could have done with a rest and we haven't been able to do it because of the injuries, but with these players coming back it gives the opportunity for them to have a rest and get their appetite back and if we get the results we need it all gets very exciting again."

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