DEFENDERS Elliott Ward and Charlie Daniels have both overcome minor scares in their respective comebacks and are on course to return to action in the next few weeks.

Ward, who damaged his right knee when he collided with an advertising hoarding against Leicester last month, felt some discomfort in his calf when he stepped up his training programme.

And fears Daniels may have aggravated the thigh muscle he tore against Huddersfield in January were allayed at the end of last week.

Boss Eddie Howe told the Daily Echo: “Elliott has moved along quite quickly and we have been really pleased with his rehab.

“He had a little bit of stiffness in one of his calves but he seems to have come through that okay and we are hopeful he is not too far away.

“I think we will probably be looking at the early stages of next week before he is back in training.

“We still have some way to go with Charlie, although he is making good progress and is improving all the time.

"We were worried he had had a little setback but, hopefully, we have been given good news on that and he will be able to step up his rehab. I still think he is probably a couple of weeks from training.

“They are both probably on track for what we said originally which is good news because they are two big players for us. It would be great to have them both fit and we are hopeful they will be in the not too distant future.”