Tim Flowers has said that he is moving closer to regaining full fitness, although he admits that he still has his long term hip problem.

Flowers has failed to regain full fitness after he injured himself on New Years day against Bradford and has had to sit out all of the FA Cup games and this years Premiership fixtures while Simon Royce has deputised for him.

Flowers told the Leicester Mercury, “I am almost fully fit again although my hip, as always, is a problem.

“Now I need to get in some games and we have a couple coming up, a testimonial at Dover on Monday and a Reserves match at Coventry the following night.

“Ideally I want to play in both of them to get my match-fitness up and then it is just a case of doing well enough to persuade the manager to bring me back in the side.”

Flowers looks set to be on the bench at Old Trafford this afternoon and has been boosted throughout his injury hell by Manager Taylors admission that although Eminem look-a-like Simon Royce has done a more than adequate job of covering for Flowers over the past few months, Flowers will always be his No 1 choice.

Manager Taylor said, “Tim is making good progress.

“We were delighted to see him back in full training although his kicking is something we have to work on. That is why we are still letting him take it a bit easy.

“But it is ideal to have competition for places and while Simon Royce has certainly not let anyone down, Tim is still considered the No 1 and will go straight in when he is properly ready.”