Walsall's Kory Roberts steps up rehab

The 21-year-old saw his season end before it had even begun when he suffered the horror injury in a friendly against Stoke back in July.

Roberts required oxygen on the pitch and immediately underwent surgery following an accidental collision with Ryan Sweeney.

Keates though revealed the defender’s recovery is progressing as planned – with Roberts now running again much to the delight of his team mates.

“Kory is doing really well,” the boss said.

“He’s out jogging and he got a little round of applause the other day, he came jogging past the group when we were training.

“It’s nice to see him out there. he could potentially be ready for the last couple of games of the season.

“But it’s something I’ve already said in my discussion with Kory, and with the physio, that he’s not in my plans until next season.

“He might as well use that extra time and make sure he’s fully ready to go from day one in pre-season.

“But his recovery has gone really well. He’s progressing really well and it was good for the lads, himself mentally and the group, to see him jogging round the outside of the pitch.”

Meanwhile, Keates is adamant he has enough characters and leaders in his squad to ensure Walsall will stay in League One this year.

“The changing room is a players’ sanctuary and I can’t be in there all the time,” he said.

“They have their own conversations and that’s where the older players and more experienced players have to stand up and be leaders and help younger players out.

“There are good characters in the changing room, even the younger player. Everyone wants to do well and they all want to progress.

“They fully believe in themselves, they fully believe in us as a group and what we can achieve.

“We had a dip but the Bradford game galvanised usand we’ve had good performances on the back of it.

“We were disappointed with Portsmouth but, all being well, we’ll get a reaction at Sunderland today.”