MARK Fish is expected to make a swift return to Wanderers' Premiership campaign after detailed examination of his injured knee.

Wanderers were concerned over the pain and swelling the £2 million South African centre-back suffered after taking a knock in last week's 2-2 draw with Spurs. But an exploratory operation yesterday showed the knee was stable, apart from debris from a damaged cartilage, a far cry from scare stories suggesting he could be out for the season!

"Speculation like that doesn't do the football club any good whatsoever," Colin Todd said.

"The specialist was pleased with what he saw. He cleaned out a bit of debris but said the knee was very stable.

"Mark won't be available for weekend but we have another free weekend coming up so that helps."

Wanderers are likely to make a number of changes tonight when they take a 3-1 lead into the second leg of their second round Coca-Cola Cup tie with Leyton Orient ko 8pm).

Gerry Taggart, Scott Sellars and Gudni Bergsson picked up knocks in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace and may not be risked.

John McGinlay, missing for two games through injury and illness, is fit again and expected to figure against the Third Division side.

Wanderers will be playing for a home third round tie against the winners of tomorrow night's Millwall-Wimbledon tie (the Dons take a 5-1 lead to the New Den) and are anxious to avoid any slip-ups.

"It's an attitude thing," Todd explained. "If we approach the game in the right frame of mind and do our jobs professionally, we'll have not problems.

"It's only when you switch off that you have problems in games like these."

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