MANAGER Jason Tindall revealed Junior Stanislas would be in contention to make a surprise return against Reading tomorrow (8pm).

The versatile Cherries midfielder was forced off during the second half against Millwall earlier this month, following a collision with Ryan Leonard.

And Tindall confirmed the 31-year-old, who had originally been ruled out for “at least a month” with an ankle injury, is now back in training.

The Cherries boss said: “He’s progressing really well, June. Far better than we initially thought.

“Junior has trained the past four or five days so he’s back in training and Junior will be one that will be available for contention.”

Tindall added: "It's certainly surprised us because we were expecting Junior to be out for some time. But it's great to have Junior back.

"Junior and (Arnaut) Danjuma, second and third top goalscorers for the football club. I think when you're missing your creative players, players you can rely on to create and score goals, is always going to be difficult.

"So to have now Arnie and Junior back available is great and that can only make us stronger."

The manager also had updates on Chris Mepham and Dan Gosling, who missed the midweek FA Cup victory over Crawley through injury.

“Chris Mepham trained again this morning and came through the training session fine, so it will be great to have Chris back available,” said Tindall.

“Dan Gosling, he picked an illness up last week and is probably not quite going to be ready for this one, but it’s something that shouldn’t keep him out for too long.”

Cherries sealed a 4-2 victory over the promotion-chasing Royals when the sides met at Vitality Stadium this season.