Gilliead in race to finish good work at Bradford City

But the on-loan winger could be pushing it fine because of the severity of his hamstring tear.

Gilliead was back in Newcastle yesterday for an MRI scan on the injury, although he will continue his recovery work with the club.

Stuart McCall has not given up hope of seeing Gilliead, whose loan would include the play-offs, in action once more.

The City boss said: "It's a huge blow to find out his tear had been a little bit bigger than we'd anticipated. He'd been in and around the team, pushing for a regular start.

"But he's got to be positive with his outlook. I don't know if he's a quick healer or not but say it's four weeks, then we're hopeful.

"The results of the scan will give us a more in-depth view but we're confident he will still have a part to play."

Gilliead suffered the injury in the first half at Coventry last week – his third successive start.

It was the first time in his career he had played successive full games on a Saturday and in the following midweek, which possibly could have been a symptom.

McCall said: "It's a high-grade tear, which can be anything from four to eight weeks, but the doc at Newcastle wanted to have a scan and will then decide on that.

"As far as I understand, he'll be back with us for his treatment and we'll see how it goes."

But Alex Jones and Nicky Law could both be involved in the squad against Swindon tomorrow.

Jones was another injury victim at the Ricoh Arena, limping off with a dead leg.

Law has missed three games with a minor knee problem, having started all bar one of the previous 35 league outings.

McCall said: "Alex trained yesterday but not at 100 per cent. We're building up towards that. It's too early to say if he will be ready and Lawsy is a similar situation. But we're hopeful that both will be available.

"Obviously we were missing three attacking options at Charlton the other night, Law, Jonesy and Gilliead, and that does really limit us. It'll be good if we can get one of them back."