Barnet captain Charlie MacDonald has had some involvement in training this week but is not expected make a full return until next week.

The 33-year-old forward has been sidelined with a strain of the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee since the 3-0 win over Dover Athletic last month and his estimated recovery time of a month has since been extended by a further month.

MacDonald has been undergoing treatment at the Isokinetic clinic in London in order to has his return to first-team action, but has missed Barnet’s last ten Conference fixtures.

However, the former Brentford and MK Dons forward has continued to make good progress and Martin Allen revealed he was hopeful MacDonald could return to full training after Saturday’s FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie at Chelmsford City.

Allen said: "Charlie MacDonald started the warm-up yesterday (Monday) and did a little bit of training but not much, so he won’t be ready for Saturday and we will see how he comes on next week.

"Charlie Mac won’t be fit for this Saturday but hopefully he will start training next week," he added.

Lee Cook was replaced at half-time of the Bees' win over the Iron by Luke Gambin and Allen confirmed the experienced winger had picked up a knock in the first half.

He said: "He has got a knock on his ankle, he took a kick just before half time. I wanted to get Gambin on anyway tonight after Saturday when I took him off for kicking the ball away. Cooky could have played on but what a fantastic replacement it is to have Luke Gambin there."

Defender Sam Muggleton is also gradually recovering from taking a blow to the shin in a heavy challenge in the 1-1 draw at Braintree Town at the end of last month, but remains sidelined for the time being.

"Muggs’ injury that he picked up at Braintree, he has still got bruising on the bone," explained Allen. "He has not got a fracture but the bone bruising can take a while because it is on the side of his shin."

Winger Keanu Marsh-Brown missed Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Braintree and after suffering a recurring thigh problem throughout much of the season, the former Arsenal and Fulham prodigy has been laid low with a similar problem in his other thigh this week, meaning he has been unable to train.