Jose's fitness boost.

Newcastle have been handed a fitness boost with the news that Jose Enrique's hamstring injury is not too serious and that he should be available for the crunch game against Wolves at the start of April.

Jose limped out of the game against Stoke in the 23rd minute which eventually brought about one of the highlights of the game when Shane Ferguson was brought on to replace him. Ferguson impressed in the absence of the Spaniard but let's be honest, the lad isn't anywhere near first choice yet and if Jose is fit then Jose will play.

I was surprised to see Enrique in the starting line up anyway to be fair as I thought he was set to miss out. Indeed we were told before the match how unlikely it was that Jose was going to feature, but when the team was announced it appeared that Jose had proved his fitness. In fact it was Jose's confidence that convinced Pardew to play the lad.

“We genuinely felt he was fine late on Friday, but it was still a late call," said Pardew. “I told the Press what I did on Thursday, because I honestly thought he wouldn’t be playing. I really didn’t think he would, but he was so confident, I went with him."

Rightly or wrongly, Jose played, but it sounds like it was his persuasion that did the trick on Pardew. It backfired of a sort though when he limped out of action, but the good news is that the hamstring is only tight and hasn't been strained. Pardew continued:

“We don’t think that it’s going to be a serious one, genuinely not. It’s hard to read with Jose when it comes to injuries. The good thing is he hasn’t pulled anything, it’s just a tightening. We took him off as precaution."

So it's fingers crossed that Jose's hamstring can hold out, and with Joey Barton and Jonas Gutierrez stepping back into the action and gaining a bit more fitness it can only be a good thing ahead what is fair to say is a relegation six-pointer.

Newcastle simply must not lose that game, but that will only be made easier with the return to fitness of three of our regular starters. Leon Best could also make a return and Stephen Ireland is even being talked about for an appearance.

With regard to injuries, it's GOOD news for a change!