TOM Elliott has hit another delay as he waits to show Mark Hughes what he can offer for City.

The striker on loan from Salford is yet to kick a ball for the new manager after going off injured against Harrogate in the last game before the Welshman’s appointment.

Hughes had been looking to involve the lanky target man for some part against Port Vale last weekend – but Elliott picked up another problem in training.

“Tom had a little bit of a setback unfortunately and just tweaked his knee,” said the City boss.

“We were hoping to get him involved at the weekend but he did that in the week and that’s put him back a little bit again.

“He probably won’t be available this Saturday but hopefully I would think he’ll be back for the week after.”

Elliott was brought in by Derek Adams in January to compete with Andy Cook. But he has played only seven times – five of them from the bench.

He started for just under an hour at Harrogate at the start of last month but was forced off only 11 minutes into the return fixture during Mark Trueman’s caretaker charge.

City could again be without Elliot Watt and Alex Gilliead for Saturday’s home clash with Newport. Hughes admitted they are not taking any chances with the midfield duo, who were both missed in the Vale loss.

He added: “They are not back with the group yet. They’re with the physios but we’ll see how they are when the group comes back together tomorrow.

“We’re being a little bit careful with them. We’ve taken them out of contact and hopefully the injuries they’ve got will settle down.

“They’re not long-term injuries but a little bit of an irritant at the moment, so we’re trying to settle them down.

“Possibly one or both will be out for the weekend but hopefully not. Hopefully there will be an option.

“But we’re probably being cautious so that they don’t miss any more games.”

Liam Ridehalgh also remains out of Hughes’ plans for now as he continues to work his way back from the concussion he suffered at Stevenage.

“We’re just following the advice we are getting at the moment,” said Hughes.

“He’s obviously speaking to specialist concussion guys and we’re being led by them.

“He’s joining in training, it’s pretty much non-contact but he has to be signed off and we’re not at that point yet.

“It’s for the best and we’re guided by the experts on that one.”

Hughes wants City to be quicker on the ball against the sixth-placed Exiles as he targets a home victory at the fourth attempt.

“There was a little bit of disappointment after last weekend and there are things that we know we can be better at that will help us.

“We’ll be working on that this week, so I’d like to see them in our play on Saturday.

“I think we were a little bit slow in terms of our distribution and not as crisp and sharp as possibly we’ve been in our away games for whatever reason.

“The emphasis of our work through this week has been on speeding up our play and making sure we move into position quicker than we did."