Dan Gosling moves another step closer to first team return.

Dan Gosling completed 70 minutes of football this afternoon as he stepped up his quest to return to match fitness.

Gosling has been out for for nine months with a cruciate ligament injury which at one point threatened the career of the 20-year-old Devonian, but the news that he has come through a large part of a reseve game against Hibernian this afternoon will hopefully enable the youngster to put his injury behind him and concentrate on getting back to playing football.

Seventy minutes is more than I expected him to play to be honest, but I still don't think he will be in contention for the match on Sunday just yet. It's worth remembering that he has been out for an awful long time, and it would be foolish to rush him back too soon, especially considering the extent and severity of the injury he sustained.

It doesn't stop him hoping to be in the team for the Wear-Tyne derby though. Talking to the Newcastle United official club website, Gosling had this to say:

"I'll look out for the numbers on Sunday and see what the gaffer decides to do, but I'm not getting carried away, I'll just take it as it comes.

"We have another Reserve game against Wigan on Monday, so I'm sure I'll play some part in that, so I'll look forward to that one as well."

If he features on Sunday then I very much doubt he will be involved against Wigan. Much depends on who we have available of course, but with the player feeling understandably jaded after his outing earlier it would perhaps be best to save him for the reserve game and to give him some more time to get fit.

"I'm tired but I feel alright," said Gosling. "I stiffened up a little bit but it was a good run-out and I really enjoyed it. I was getting more confident as the game went on and it's a shame I couldn't last the 90 minutes, but that'll come sooner rather than later."

"The plan was to play for at least an hour and see after that, and 70 minutes was a good workout for me. I was a bit disappointed not to score, as I had a good chance to score and felt I should have had a penalty, but I'm sure the goals will come soon."

It's good news that Gosling has come through his return unscathed as it would be a shame for the lad to break down again when he is so close to returning to the first-team squad setup. Whether or not Sunday comes too quicly or not is largely unimportant. What matters, in the grand scheme of things, is making sure Gosling returns when the time is right.

Not before!

For those interested, the reserves drew 3-3 with Hibernian with Phil Airey and Jeff Henderson (2) on the scoresheet. Nile Ranger and Danny Guthrie also featured for Newcastle.