Blackpool striker remains doubtful ahead of games against Oxford United and Cheltenham Town- while another continues to improve

The 34-year-old, who has found the back of net 15 times this season, was forced off at the break of the recent 1-1 draw against Charlton Athletic at Bloomfield Road after being involved in a first half collision. He has subsequently missed the EFL Trophy against Bolton Wanderers and last week’s 1-0 defeat away to Stevenage.

Rhodes’ absence is set to continue heading into the next few fixtures, starting with Saturday’s game against the U’s.

"He’s improving day by day, he’s been back at the training ground this week after having a period at home because he was struggling to be mobile,” Seasiders boss Neil Critchley explained.

"With rib injuries there’s not a lot you can do; you’ve just got to rest. A lot of it is pain management, so we’ve just got to take it day by day. You don’t need a scan, because you know it could potentially be cracked, so you just go off his symptoms. Like Ollie Norburn earlier in the season, at some point he’ll decide that he feels better and we can start moving forward.

"He’ll be very doubtful for this weekend, and with Tuesday coming so quickly we’d have to see. We’d like to see him training to test him fully, but we’ve not done that yet.

"Everyone else is fine. Jake Beesley has started to do some training this week which is a real plus- he’s starting to integrate back into the group which means he’s getting closer all of the time.”