NEIL Young's hopes of a Wrexham comeback still hang in the balance despite the influential full-back returning to reserve team action yesterday.

Young, who has been sidelined since the start of the season with a nagging ankle problem, played 42 minutes of Cherries' 3-0 Pontin's Holidays Combination defeat at Cheltenham Town.

But although he was substituted just before half-time, Cherries assistant manager Peter Grant insisted the 29-year-old defender had not suffered a setback and could still be in the frame for a Wrexham recall on Saturday.

Cherries will wait and see how Young's ankle reacts to its Whaddon Road outing before deciding whether he will train with the rest of his team-mates today.

But even if he should sit out today's session, Grant remains optimistic Young could still resume training tomorrow and bolster Sean O'Driscoll's threadbare squad ahead of their Division Two trip to North Wales.

Grant said: "Neil was feeling the ankle a bit and so we took him off but it was not a setback. He came in yesterday morning, did a bit of training and wanted to play and he actually lasted longer than we expected.

"But we told him that if at any time he felt anything he was to tell us and we would take him straight off. When we got the nod he came straight off to make sure that he did not make it any worse.

"Neil did not suffer a recurrence of the injury he just felt it ache. And he was clever enough to realise that we cannot take any chances with players at the moment. There was no point in him playing through until half-time and risking him.

"Neil is obviously a doubt for Saturday but we will just have to see how the ankle has settled by today. Hopefully he can take part in training on Friday but if not, at the start of next week."

Meanwhile, Jason Tindall is hoping to get the green light to return to training at the start of next week when he has a scan on his injured right knee.

The luckless defender saw specialist Dave Barrett at the BUPA Southampton Hospital yesterday amid fears that he had sustained cartilage damage on his comeback at QPR last Saturday.

But although he was referred for a scan, which will take place in Poole over the next couple of days, Cherries are optimistic Tindall will be back in training by Monday.