James Dayton could be in contention to return to the Leyton Orient squad this weekend away at Northampton Town, says interim head coach Ross Embleton.

Dayton has been out with an ankle injury since April which he picked up in the 2-1 win against Sutton United when he was on the wrong end of a bad challenge but ended up being sent off for his reaction to the tackle.

Speaking after Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Port Vale, Embleton said: “I was very close to including him in the squad today but I think it probably would have been irresponsible of me. I wanted to the the manager that had James Dayton in his team or in his squad because he’s such an influential player amongst the group. He’s obviously a fantastic footballer as well but it would have irresponsible of me to include him today.

“[He’ll get] another week’s worth of training and another opportunity for him to build and hopefully have a clear run at a really intense week of work and hopefully that will see him closer to the group.”

Also remaining on the injury list is club captain Jobi McAnuff, but Embleton remains confident that he will return soon after taking part in training.

He said: “He’s trained a fair bit this week. There’s been a couple of sessions that we’ve done that have been a bit twisty and turny that we had to be a little bit careful with him, but he’s joined in on the whole so that’s a positive week that I can tick off.

“He’s even more of a support and influential character when you’ve got him on the pitch so hopefully that’s sooner rather than later.”