OWEN Coyle has vowed not to gamble with Chung-Yong Lee’s fitness, even though he is desperate to play a part in Wanderers’ fight against the drop.

The South Korea international has stepped up his training this week, working on the grass at Euxton with medical staff for the first time since his double leg break last August in a pre-season friendly at Newport County.

After spending eight months on the sidelines, Chung-Yong is now tantalisingly close to returning full time – but Coyle is reticent to push him too hard and risk losing the winger for the whole season.

“There is an element of frustration because he has continued to improve,” the manager said.

“Chungy, like me, would like that improvement to continue at a faster rate.

“But with the nature of his injury we have got to allow it to come along under its own steam.

“I am led to believe everything is healing as it should but within that there is always going to be some discomfort as he continues to push forward.”

Although Chung-Yong’s recovery is slow going, Coyle admits he has made progress since returning from Korea at the start of the year and rejoining his team-mates.

“He did some work the other day that was better than it had been last week,” he said.

“It shows he is getting better but it’s not as though he’s just a week away from training with my group.

“He continues to improve so we need to keep monitoring him and get him back when the time is right.”