Josh Gordon is back in full training in a boost to injury-hit Barrow AFC.

The hard-working striker is on his way back from the calf injury he suffered last month.

Gordon has missed the last nine games but is now close to a comeback.

Manager Mark Cooper, though, was coy on whether the ex-Walsall man would return in time for this weekend’s game at Exeter City.

“Gordon’s back in full training,” he said yesterday.

“We’ll see how he trains today and tomorrow and take it from there.”

The 27-year-old’s return will be a boost to the Bluebirds at a time they have been hit by a three-game ban for loan frontman Aaron Amadi-Holloway.

The latter sits out tomorrow’s trip to Devon and Barrow’s next two fixtures after the club failed to overturn the red card he received against Stevenage last Saturday.

Manager Cooper – himself about to begin an eight-game touchline ban – says other forwards can step up in Amadi-Holloway’s absence.

“Of course it’s a blow because he’s done remarkably well; he’s helped us physically, he occupies people, he makes space,” said Cooper of the Burton Albion loan man.

“But it gives opportunities for somebody else to have a go.

“Somebody will be frustrated they’re not in the team – they get a chance for three games, maybe, to go and stake a claim.”

Cooper said Barrow would not change their approach wholesale without Amadi-Holloway.

“We might have to tweak a couple of things but not too much,” he said.

“It’s not like we bash the ball up to Holloway. It’s not like we get it from back to front. We try and work the ball into him. We won’t have to change too much.”

Another striker who could come back into consideration is Leicester loan frontman Jacob Wakeling, who was left out of the squad last Saturday.

Cooper confirmed that was a selection decision.

“With the weather and the wind, how blustery it was, I went with another defender, a big defender in [Matt] Platt in case we had to defend late on and put him on – which we did have to do,” the manager said.

On the fitness front, meanwhile, defender Joe Grayson and midfielder Jordan Stevens remain sidelined.