The Mariners’ top scorer has received positive news on the shoulder injury he sustained on Easter Monday.

Grimsby Town have been given a huge boost with the news that John McAtee could play again this season. The Mariners’ top scorer will return to training next week and could return to action sooner rather than later after precise information on the shoulder injury he suffered on Easter Monday was confirmed.

McAtee, who has bagged 13 goals so far this season, was absent for the 2-1 win over Torquay United as Town cemented their place in the play-offs. The midfielder missed a spell earlier in the season which coincided with their worst run of form and while there is no exact date on his return, boss Paul Hurst revealed he could be back for the closing stages of the season depending on how his shoulder feels.

“All the bits we wanted him to go through and people to see are now done and complete,” Hurst said. “He will be back in next week training at the training ground doing some rehab. How that goes will depend whether he’s available to us and how quickly. In theory, we should be able to get him back playing between now and the end of the season, whenever the end of the season is. But it will ultimately depend how much pain he is in and how free that shoulder is.

“He does need an operation and that can be delayed if he can cope with it. There’s still some ‘ifs’ but at the minute it’s another piece of good news in general. But it’s far from a formality that he will be back out there.”

When asked about the potential of saving him for the play-offs, Hurst said: “We’re not there yet. Granted, that could be part of it. What I don’t want to do is put John out there; you’ve got to be careful you don’t put them out there because you’d like them to be then they’re not the same player or contributing. That will have to be assessed on the training pitch when we get to that point. At the start of the week he definitely won’t be on the pitch, it will be gym based work, just trying to rehab the shoulder and see what progress he can make.”

Grimsby weren’t at their best in their latest win, but Hurst was happy with the improvements they showed after a poor first half. “It was a bit of a strange game. I didn’t think we were at it first half, better second half. Certainly in the second half we definitely got on top and had chances, we hit the crossbar, but a late goal was most welcome and a very welcome first half.”

Hurst admitted his side were fortunate to be level at the break after Harry Clifton scored from outside the box. “At half time part of it was that we got out of jail a little bit. We looked a bit tentative, which I don’t really know why. We spoke about Torquay being on a good run and they had a few chances, Max made a few good saves. We kept making mistakes and inviting the pressure on. We were grateful to Max for a couple of saves but were eventually punished by a set play, which is a strength for them.

“But a good strike by Harry, I thought Harry, Gav (Holohan) and Scans (Sean Scannell) were our standouts in the first half. We had a few in between and a few that there’s no getting away from it, were poor that needed to up their game. Thankfully they did that and the longer the game went we were more on top.”