The central defender will play 45 minutes of the Pontins League derby against Blackpool at Bamber Bridge.

And today manager Alan Irvine said: "I didn't expect him even to be training with us until October, never mind playing in a match.

"It is absolutely fantastic news and it just shows the progress the lad has made."

Chilvers has been sidelined since March 8 when he ruptured his Achilles tendon during the warm-up at Charlton.

Surgeons who stitched it back together told him he could expect to be out of action until possibly Christmas.

But the 26-year-old has worked so hard with the North End physios during the summer months that he was able to join in training two weeks ago and is now ready to kick a ball in anger.

"We are really, really pleased that he is able to do this," said Irvine.

"He is way ahead of schedule, albeit he is not back to what he was yet. And we must not expect too much from him.

"He has been training with the lads for some time now. He has been doing the full sessions and not had a problem.

"Obviously tonight will be another step up for him to play 45 minutes in a game. But he feels ready to do that, so we will see how he goes.

"When a player has been out as long as Liam has then you are wary of every session they do, especially at the start.

"But he has made such good progress that we are comfortable with him giving it a go.

"He will be a little bit nervous and so will we.

"But fingers crossed he gets through it without a problem and we can step things up even more.

"He is going to need more reserve games and we will give him 45 minutes for starters.

"Maybe in the next one he can play an hour.

"Then after that maybe we can look towards playing the full 90 minutes."

Full story in Wednesday's Lancashire Evening Post