Preston North End striker Louis Moult takes first steps back on the training pitch after knee surgery

Moult ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in PNE's 3-2 defeat at Swansea City in August.

He underwent surgery the following month and has been working in the gym since to build his knee back to full strength.

On Monday, Moult was able to start running on the grass pitches at Springfields - such a step always regarded as key when a player is coming back from a serious injury.

It will be a while yet before the 27-year-old is able to join in full training and when he suffered the injury the likelihood was that he would miss the rest of the season.

Moult posted a photograph of him training on his Twitter account with the message 'Great feeling being back out on the grass'.

Last week, North End manager Alex Neil said Moult was close to starting running again.

Neil said: "It is about overcoming the hurdles one by one and by the time you know it you are back out on the grass.

“Just running and getting your fitness levels up after a bad injury is the bit you can’t wait for.

“You feel at that stage you are getting fit to play, whereas when you are healing, just getting movement back into the knee and trying to strengthen it, some of the days can be quite monotonous.

“Mentally it is a tester when you are in the gym and all the lads are going out to train every day.

“You are on the bike, on the rower, it is not easy.