BLUES boss Phil Brown is confident of extending Luke O’Neill’s loan spell from Burnley.

The right-back picked up a thigh strain on his debut against Chesterfield in mid-January.

But, he is now back in training and Brown is keen to keep him at Roots Hall.

“Negotiations are continuing but we feel like we’ve made inroads in to making sure Luke stays with us,” said Brown.

“We want him to stay and hopefully it can all be sorted out.”

Brown hopes to have O’Neill available to play against Hartlepool United and he has his fingers crossed that Luke Prosser can recover from a calf problem to also line up at Roots Hall.

“Luke wasn’t close to playing against Exeter as he didn’t train on either Thursday or Friday but hopefully we can get him out there tomorrow night,” added Brown.