Hull City handed timely injury boost as Tigers plot Luton Town success

Hull City have been handed a timely injury boost as they prepare to launch back into Championship action this weekend with a trip to fellow strugglers Luton Town.

City will have summer signing Abu Kamara back in their squad for the trip to Bedfordshire after the winger missed defeats to Oxford United and West Brom before the international break, having picked up an ankle problem in the draw with his former loan club Portsmouth earlier this month.

There's also positive news involving midfielders Steven Alzate and Marvin Mehlem with the pair returning to full training on Thursday, though the clash against the Hatters may come a little too soon, but with Sheffield Wednesday visiting the MKM Stadium on Tuesday night and then a visit to Middlesbrough next weekend, there's a belief the pair will be back in the squad.

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Elsewhere, Kasey Palmer has returned unscathed from international duty with Jamaica, having played just under an hour against the USA in the first leg of their Nations League defeat, but did not feature in Tuesday's second leg defeat in St Louis. Gustavo Puerta is due back on Friday but wasn't in either Colombia squad for their World Cup qualifying defeats to Uruguay and Ecuador. City, though, will still be unable to call upon Carl Rushworth, Liam Millar and Mohamed Belloumi

"Abu, he's back. He trained the whole week, and the rest from the last squad (against West Brom) trained the whole week and the whole time.

"Today, Marvin (Mehlem) and Stevie (Alzate) were back on the pitch, but the first day and that's it. I don't know if it's enough for Saturday, but for the upcoming weeks, that's helpful to have more players. They (Palmer and Puerta) are back (in contention for the game). Gustavo will depart (from Bogota) today, so he will be back in tomorrow. He had a long trip, the same as Kasey, but Kasey did the full session today (Thursday), so they are back."

Brighton loanee Rushworth, who is yet to play a minute in competitive action for City, is closing in on a return from his ankle problem, though it's believed he won't be back until Christmas at the earliest. "It's getting better and better, but he still needs some time," Walter said of the Albion stopper. "I can't say the official thing (how long), but hopefully he's soon back."

The Tigers boss has praised Rushworth for his application since arriving on deadline day, and battling the setback of his training ground injury having not yet played since joining the club, with Ivor Pandur an ever-present in the first 15 games.

"He's brilliant, and we try to treat him as our player," the German explained. "That's all we can do, and he behaves like that. He's very comfortable, and he's very happy to be here. All he can do is fight to get himself back, and that's what he's doing."