Cullen poised for Blackpool comeback at Southend

Injured Mark Cullen leaves the field at Doncaster

Cullen, 25, has been sidelined for six weeks since pulling up with a hamstring injury in the 3-3 draw at Doncaster.

But Bowyer says the forward has been training with the squad all week and his return is a welcome one as he is a different type of attacking weapon for Bowyer to possibly deploy at Roots Hall.

The manager said: “Mark Cullen will certainly come back into the squad and he is a welcome boost for us because he provides us with other opportunities to score goals. He is completely different to everybody else in the squad because he is an out-and-out goalscorer.

“Having Cully back at this time will be great for us because he is different. Some people think he is not involved in the game enough and then all of a sudden he has popped up and scored.

“You only have to look at his form at the end of last season and how he started this season. He is going to give us an extra boost.”

Captain and midfield maestro Jimmy Ryan came off with a knock in Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Rochdale and Bowyer says he will be given as much time as possible to shake it off.

He said: “We are going to give everyone as long as possible. I think that is what you do, especially with Saturday-Tuesday games. We will give Jimmy as long as he needs. He is a sensible player, who came off at the right time and did not aggravate it.”

Meanwhile Bowyer says there is no update on triallists Jay Spearing and Adam Henley, who have continued to train with the club.

Spearing was released by Bolton and Henley by Blackburn this summer, with Bowyer expressing his desire to sign both.

However, he stressed once again that it is now up to the “money men” to secure the signings.

He said: “It is above me now. I can only do my job in the sense of identifying, recruiting and bringing them in.

“Then it goes down to the money men and they have to try to thrash something out and get it sorted.

“From a personal point of view I’d be delighted if we could have both of them in our squad because they would add quality and they have got Championship experience which we know is invaluable at this level because we are a young inexperienced team but we are gaining in every game that we.

“They are still training with us and they are the only two at the minute.”