BRISTOL ROVERS defender Joe Jacobson gave the club a boost ahead of today's home game with Walsall by admitting he is close to a return totraining.

The Wales Under 21 left-back has missed the start of the campaign after damaging knee ligaments on the Pirates pre-season tour of Sweden.

Jacobson, however, insists he is ahead of schedule on his recovery programme and is hoping to be available for selection by the end of the month.

He said: "The knee feels fine at the moment and I am almost at the end of my rehabilitation period.

"I am looking at another few days with the physio and hope that I might train with the rest of the squad towards the end of the week.

"I was told I would be out for ten weeks so I am ahead of schedule right now.

"I am hoping to be involved in a reserve game the week after I start training again, and then it will be up to the manager to decide whether he thinks I am ready for selection after that.

"I got most of the pre-season under my belt and have been doing a lot of running over the last few weeks so my general fitness is fine."

Jacobson has been forced to watch from the sidelines as the Pirates have uncharacteristically shipped 16 goals in their opening seven games.

"It is a lot different to last season," he said. We didn't concede many or score as many, so it is a complete opposite. We have had a couple of little blips at the back but when we get it right teams will struggle to beat us.

"A couple of seasons ago we managed to keep 30 clean sheets and we are pretty much the same squad of players.

"We know we can keep clean sheets and we just have to do a bit of work on the training ground."

Jacobson has also been forced out of the successful conclusion to his country's under 21 European Championship qualifying campaign.

An impressive 3-0 victory against Romania earlier this week saw them become only the second group of Welsh youngsters to finish a qualifying campaign on top of their group.

They went into the draw for the play-off in Sweden yesterday – and were drawn to face Stuart Pearce's England side over two legs in October.

"I love going away with Wales, and to miss the last two games after such a good campaign was horrible," Jacobson said.

"We had a great result away in Romania to get through the group and I am looking forward to getting involved in what promises to be an exciting play-off game now."

Defender Danny Coles is nearing a comeback for Rovers after his knee injury, but he may not be risked at the Memorial Stadium today.