Injury setback for Wigan Athletic defender

The 31-year-old former Cardiff, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough left-back was one of three deadline-day signings – along with Curtis Tilt and Jason Kerr.

But he was nursing a knee injury, and boss Leam Richardson has revealed Bennett has suffered a slight speedbump in training that has further put back his return date.

“Joe had a minor setback early on, but he’s improving loads,” said Richardson.

“With any injury, sometimes you get little niggles you can’t get away from.

"That put him back a week or two, but in the grand scheme of things that’s not really significant.

“We didn’t want him to come in and then potentially have to go back out. We want him to come in and then be fit enough to stay in.

“When he does that, he will be a fantastic addition to this football club – on and off the pitch.”

Richardson also refused to put a possible date on Bennett’s return to action, for fear of putting pressure on him.

“I don’t really want to put a timescale on this,” he added.

“It puts undue pressure on the player and the medical staff. We want him to take one day at a time, and hit every milestone one by one.

“But fingers crossed it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

Latics have two other left-backs – Tom Pearce and Luke Robinson – in the squad, while skipper Tendayi Darikwa has filled in there for most of the campaign.

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