Huddersfield Town head coach gives updates on Jack Whatmough and Antony Evans plus key message regarding Ryan Hardie

Luckless midfielder Evans has been plagued by injury issues this tern, but did recently feature from the bench in the EFL Trophy tie with Doncaster Rovers.

Whatmough has been sidelined since August with a deep-seated calf injury.

Both featured for Town under-21s in a game on Tuesday, alongside Alfie May, who is available again for league duty after serving a four-match ban. He is in the mix for Saturday's Yorkshire derby with Barnsley.

Manning said: "In terms of (those) coming back, Ant Evans obviously played yesterday as well and obviously had a little taste here last week. I thought he was excellent yesterday as well. He's moving in the right direction.

"Jack had 45 minutes under his belt. He's probably a little bit behind just because of the period of time he's been out, but someone else that will push forward and increase what he's doing at the minute.

"So, there's a couple that are definitely getting closer and obviously there's Ryan and Alfie May back as well. So, we've definitely got some more options."

The availability of May represents a timely boost for Town, who failed to muster efforts on target in back-to-back league losses at Doncaster and Stevenage.

Manning added: "To have someone who, in so many recent seasons, has produced the goals he has, I think it's huge for us to have that.

"So it was good he played yesterday in the (under) 21s, which is obviously a really good opportunity to build his minutes, keep his match (sharpness) up.

"We were disappointed is to lose him. We've managed him well in terms of obviously the game last week and a game this week.

"So it'll be good to have him back."

One positive from Tuesday night's defeat at Doncaster was the sight of marquee deadline-day signing Ryan Hardie afforded a cameo from the bench in his maiden outing for the club following his loan move from Wrexham.

But Manning has stressed that he will not take any big gambles with the fitness of the Scot, who had been sidelined for the previous two months with a knee injury.

He said: "Of course, we have to be sensible.

"He's been out for a couple of months. After eight weeks, to have one session and get some minutes last night, it's not the norm.

"You wouldn't normally fast-track people that quickly, but we understand the importance of where we're at, the situation of what we're fighting for.

"And I'll always take calculated risks, but for me, you can't be reckless. The worst thing you can do is throw him in far too quickly, he breaks down again and you lose him for the rest of the season.

"Then, we sat here and you're probably saying: 'well, what on earth are you doing that for?'"