Dean Smith: Jordan Cook will add quality

The 24-year-old will be hoping to play his part when League One leaders Bristol City visit the Banks's Stadium this afternoon, after recovering from an ankle injury sustained in pre-season.

Cook was an unused substitute in last week's 3-0 win over Doncaster and then saw his first action in Wednesday's reserve game with Stoke City.

Smith accepts the former Sunderland ace will take a little more time to rediscover match fitness but believes when he does the Saddlers will have a very good player on their hands.

"What he brings is quality – he's a quality player," said Smith. "We knew that when we brought him in. I've had him here before.

"He gave us a boost just being on the bench last week.

"You could see he was a little bit rusty yesterday in the reserve game but he'll certainly bring us quality, pace and hopefully he'll bring us goals."

Cook had been sidelined since suffering a hairline fracture of his right ankle in a pre-season friendly with Torquay United and the speed of his recovery has pleased Smith.

"He's from the North-East and he's got that sort of mentality – I think his dad couldn't believe he'd broken his ankle and not played on!" added the manager.

"He just wants to play football games and get his career back on track and I'm sure he can do that."

Cook himself has paid tribute to Saddlers physio Jon Whitney for bringing him back up to speed and that admitted he initially feared the injury was far more serious.

"At first we thought the worst with how the swelling came up so quickly - It was ridiculous," he said.

"You fear ligament damage and maybe an operation but luckily, though there was a crack in the bone – so it was technically a broken ankle – it was only a small one and none of the ligaments were torn, only stretched.

"We knew the timescale would be eight to ten weeks and we are ahead of where we thought it would be.

"Now everything feels strong I just want to get some minutes and get some goals."