Newport hope to have Garner back to face MK Dons

Newport County hope to have striker Ged Garner available for Saturday's League Two game against Milton Keynes Dons.

The summer signing has returned to training after a knee injury that forced him to miss the defeats to Millwall, Grimsby and Salford.

Garner, who scored against Notts County in the League Two opener, should be in the mix for the Rodney Parade meeting with the Dons (12:30 BST) as long as he comes through Friday's session unscathed.

He would join Cardiff loanee Michael Reindorf, Courtney Baker-Richardson and Bobby Kamwa - who scored a hat-trick against MK last season - as an option up front.

Midfielder Kai Whitmore will be out until mid-September with a calf injury but defender Liam Shephard is in contention for a return after having his workload managed.

Shepard, who is comfortable at right-back or the right of a central three, sat out the fixture against his former Salford teammates.

Newport brought the Pentre-born 30-year-old back for a second spell at Rodney Parade in August after he had been part of the Professional Footballers' Association summer programme for free agents.

Shephard was limited to 27 appearances at Salford last season because of injuries, so County are easing him back in.

Central defender Jaden Warner has not featured so far because of a pre-season knee issue but the January recruit from Norwich is close to a return.

"Jaden has been training and we will get some minutes for Jaden in the next 10 days, he will be back and available and that is really positive," said manager David Hughes.

"It was unfortunate for him because he was having a really positive pre-season when he picked up a knee injury. We are looking forward to having him back in."

Newport aim to bounce back from narrow league defeats to Grimsby and Salford while fifth-placed MK have won two and drawn two, sharing the spoils at Crawley on Tuesday.