SOUTHEND United’s Timothee Dieng and Sam Barratt are both rated 50/50 for tomorrow’s pre-season friendly at Leyton Orient.

Midfielder Dieng is struggling with a calf problem while winger Barratt was forced to miss the midweek friendly at Bishop’s Stortford due to a heel injury.

And Blues boss Chris Powell is not yet sure if the duo will be ready to face the O’s at Brisbane Road.

“Tim’s progressing nicely now and it was just a kick he suffered in Spain which has caused the problem in his calf,” explained Powell.

“We’ve been cautious with it but unfortunately he aggravated it against Leeds and had to come off quite early on.

“We’re taking our time with him and I would say it’s 50/50 as to whether or not he will play on Saturday against Leyton Orient and it’s the same with Sam Barratt.

“He had a little cameo against Leeds at the weekend but aggravated his heel in training after that.

“He was due to play against Bishop’s Stortford in the week but we felt it was better to take him out.

“His heel is really bruised but it’s nothing more than that.”

The injured duo have joined long term absentees Ted Smith and Rob Kiernan on the sidelines.

But Powell is hopeful another of the Shrimpers’ injury victims, midfielder Dru Yearwood, is starting to close in on a return.

“Dru is progressing but it’s slow,” said Powell.

“We won’t rush him because we had him almost there in the summer before he suffered a bit of a setback and we don’t want that to happen again.

“But it’s important he gets fit because he’s a young man who made a lot of noise around League One and higher last season.

“He played 20 odd games last season and it looked like he had played 200.

“I’m looking forward to him coming back because a fit and firing Dru Yearwood makes any squad better.

“But we’re well covered in that area and we’ve brought in some good players this summer.”

However, Powell will not predict when the 18-year-old will be back in action.

“There are no timescales, especially for him because he’s 18 and if we say he’ll be back in the three weeks and he’s not then he’ll be down about it, “said Powell.

“We’re just looking at him every day and he’s doing some light training at the moment which is good.

“But I would say he’s still a bit of time away from being able to join back in fully.”

Yearwood - who came through the youth system at Roots Hall - suffered his original hamstring injury on the final day of last season against Bristol Rovers at Roots Hall.