Preston North End defender Liam Chilvers is at the half-way stage of his rehabilitation and is ready to step things up after having his cast removed.

Chilvers admits that he has had to endure a self-imposed slow approach to his rehab so far, being extra careful not to suffer any further injury set-backs to the Achilles which he ruptured in the warm-up to the game at Charlton in early March. But after taking things easy he is now raring to go.

"It's feeling a lot better now," the centre-half told Whites World.

"I could start some light jogging but I've decided that it is better to build up my calf so that I don't pull that when I do start running. I'm taking things a little bit slow but hopefully in the long run when I do get back I won't have any problems with my calf."

Whilst the rest of the North End first team squad have been sunning themselves in foreign climes during the close season, Chilvers has been making regular visits to Springfields to continue his rehab. But the recent removal of the cast did allow the defender to get a short break and it has also afforded him a lot more independence.

"It's nice, I can obviously get around and drive now and that has been the hardest thing, having to rely on people, whether it was my girlfriend and the physios, I've got a bit of my independence back, I actually feel like I am contributing to things a bit more.

"It's nice to be able to walk around and stretch and do little bits and pieces."

Liam will look forward to his team-mates returning to training in less than two week's time but his long term target is to get himself fully fit and available for selection, he's positive that he's well on the way to that goal.

He said: "It's 14 weeks since I had the operation, so I'm about half-way through hopefully. They said six to nine months, they are looking more at nine months where I probably want it to be six months, in my mind I'm about half-way through.

"Things can get a little bit more interesting, I can do more weights and more fitness stuff in terms of being able to jump around rather than just sitting on bikes or a machine, I can start to do more movements which is a bit more interesting for me.

"There was a period where I had the cast taken off where I had to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. Even though it felt like I could do stuff I still had to think before I did anything, I had to be careful, I could have fallen off the bottom step and injured it, maybe not snapped it, but I could have done some damage to the calf.

"I'm through that now so I can step things up a little bit and hopefully everything will go ok now."

For a full and extended interview with Liam check-out Whites World now. Did you know that season-ticket holders can get Whites World for half-price, just £19.99 for the whole season? Contact the ticket office for more details on 0870 442 1966.