Bell toils to make City comeback.

Byline: ANDY TURNER 

A MONTH ahead of schedule, David Bell is slowly but surely working his way back into the Coventry City first team picture.

The right winger took a big step towards making his first start since the opening day of the season this week when he played almost a whole game for the reserves in a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest.

And although he is not expected to kick off against Reading tomorrow, he certainly hopes to be involved at some stage of the proceedings.

"Belly played 83 minutes on Tuesday which is more than we anticipated and he did well in the centre of the park where he orchestrated things and looked very good," revealed manager Chris Coleman of the player whose ten-month old City career has been blighted by an ankle injury he originally suffered while at Luton Town prior to joining Norwich.

"He is just a bit sore so he didn't train yesterday. I am certainly not thinking about starting him but he will certainly be on the bench."

Bell said: "I was delighted to get a game in the reserves and pleased to come through that amount of minutes in my first game back as a starting player.

"The minutes are steadily building up. I played half an hour at Cardiff and another half an hour against West Brom and then almost a full game on Tuesday, so I am getting there and, touch wood, my ankle feels fine at the minute so I am going in the right direction. I think the gaffer is trying to get another reserve game on next week so the more I can play the better because I have missed a lot of football and I need to get minutes under my belt."

Bell had been due to go out on loan for a month to bring his fitness back up to speed but he doesn't think that will be necessary now.

"I wouldn't have thought so because I am getting minutes here," he said.

"I feel I am doing OK when I have come on in games. It is going to take a while to get back into the swing of things and get back to playing to my best. But on Tuesday I felt good and hopefully a start isn't a million miles away.

"I hope to be involved against Reading which is another opportunity for me to get game time, but it is difficult for me at the minute because I am three or four weeks ahead of schedule with my rehab and the recovery time but speaking to the physios yesterday, they said it is easy to get carried away and to get too ahead of myself. So I am not out of the woods yet."

It has been a frustrating time for the 25-year-old who signed at the Ricoh Arena last January, joining the club with an existing ankle problem he had been carrying since the summer of 2008 when a tackle left him with a chipped bone.

But as the player revealed, it clearly did more damage than it was first thought.

"I had a posterior impingement op done in May and everything went well with that but when I came back in pre-season something just wasn't right and I had another scan and it showed a split tendon which I can only assume was from my original injury," he said.

"That was from a tackle when I was back at Luton in the pre-season and just two weeks before I went to Norwich. But at the time it just came up as a chipped bone on the scan and was told I would be back playing again in six weeks."

He added: "But my latest operation involved stitching the split tendons back together, but to get to them they had to cut through my ligaments as well, so really, I am recovering from split tendons and torn ligaments. So I am delighted to be ahead of schedule but I don't want to do too much too soon and put myself back. But hopefully everything is behind me now and I just want to get back playing every week."

Tricks and treats for youngsters THERE will be tricks and treats at this weekend's Halloween clash with Reading as the Junior Sky Blues Family Zone gets taken over by ghosts and goblins.

All the usual fun and games will be taking place with face-painters and craft stalls open from 1.30pm - but this week with a scary twist. Junior Sky Blues members are being invited to take part in an exclusive fancy dress competition with the best-dressed winning a signed CCFC football and various other prizes up for grabs.

For those who have not yet got a costume, the CCFC Superstore kiosk will be on hand selling player masks so young city fan's can come as their favourite city star.

Sky Blue Sam will be on hand to help see off the scariest of spooks and if that doesn't work then youngsters can make the monsters jump with the loudest new football craze - a Vuvuzela trumpet - on sale for pounds 5. JSB members will once again get the opportunity to play FIFA 10 before kick-off on the newly installed PS3's in the Family Zone, located in the corner of the Telegraph and Telent Stands.

FIVE-GAME FORM COVENTRY CITY Oct 24 D 0-0 West Brom (h).................League Oct 20 L 0-2 Cardiff (a)........................League Oct 17 L 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday (a) .League Oct 3 D 1-1 Leicester (h).....................League Sep 29 W 3-2 Watford (a)......................League READING Oct 24 L 0-1 Leicester (h).....................League Oct 20 L 1-4 QPR (a)............................League Oct 17 L 1-3 West Brom (a) .................League Oct 3 L 0-2 Middlesbrough (h) ..........League Sep 29 L 1-2 Preston (a).......................League LAST MEETING CHAMPIONSHIP, April 4, 2009 COVENTRY.................0 READING ..................0 Att: 17,218 Coventry: Westwood, Wright, Dann, Turner, Daniel Fox, Henderson (Osbourne, 60), Beuzelin, Gunnarsson, Eastwood (Hall, 85), Best (Simpson, 46), Morrison Subs not used: Marshall,Ward, Reading: Hahnemann, Kelly, Bikey, Duberry, Armstrong, Little (Matejovsky, 68), Cisse, Harper (Hunt, 68), Tabb (Hunt, 82 ), Kitson, Long Subs not used: Federici, Pearce Bookings: Daniel Fox, Morrison, Turner, Wright (Coventry) Bikey, Harper, Tabb (Reading) Overall record: Coventry 14, Reading 18, draws 13.

THE KEY BATTLES LEON BEST v MATTHEW MILLS The former Southampton team-mates are good friends off the pitch and will be determined to get one over each other on it. Centre-back Mills has come a long way since his days with the Saints, making a name for himself at Doncaster before being snapped up for pounds 2 million last summer.

ISAAC OSBOURNE v MAREK MATEJOVSKY The Czech Republic international is the man to stop. The 27-year-old midfield play-maker is good on the ball and exciting to watch and Osbourne could be just the man to keep him quiet.

TOMORROW'S REFEREE EDDIE ILDERTON (TYNE AND WEAR) The 36-year-old is self employed in the building industry and has been on the National List of Referees since 2002. He likes the game to flow although he has tended to flash more than his average number of cards when refereeing the Sky Blues, issuing seven yellows and sending off Kevin Kyle in City's 2-1 home defeat by Burnley in 2008. He has taken charge of 11 games this season, dishing out 26 yellows but no reds, including 10 yellows in four Championship matches.

COCA-COLA CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE P WD L F APts Newcastle ...... 14 8 3 3 21 9 27 Cardiff ........... 14 8 2 4 30 15 26 West Brom .... 14 7 4 3 24 13 25 Middlesboro . 14 7 3 4 22 15 24 Leicester ........ 14 6 6 2 16 11 24 Bristol City ..... 14 6 6 2 17 13 24 QPR ................ 13 6 5 2 25 13 23 Blackpool ...... 14 6 5 3 19 13 23 Preston .......... 14 6 5 3 22 19 23 Nottm Forest . 14 6 5 3 16 13 23 Watford ........ 14 5 6 3 22 21 21 Swansea ........ 14 4 7 3 9 10 19 Sheff Utd ....... 14 4 5 5 23 25 17 Crystal Pal ...... 13 4 5 4 13 15 17 Coventry ........ 14 4 5 5 16 20 17 Scunthorpe ... 14 5 2 7 19 26 17 Sheff Wed ..... 14 4 4 6 21 22 16 Doncaster ...... 14 2 8 4 15 17 14 Derby ............. 14 4 2 8 17 25 14 Barnsley ......... 14 4 2 8 16 25 14 Peterboro ...... 14 2 5 7 17 23 11 Reading ......... 14 2 4 8 11 23 10 Plymouth ....... 14 2 3 9 13 26 9 Ipswich .......... 14 0 8 6 15 27 8 SKY BLUES NEWS: Breaking stories as they happen YOUR SAY: Send your comments to our forums VIEW: Our photo gallery of the big matches nVISIT www.coventrytelegraph.net and click on Coventry City FC

CAPTION(S):

HARD WORK... David Bell has been putting in the effort in City's reserves.