Colin Calderwood is confident Julian Bennett will get his first taste of pre-season match action this week.

A slight hamstring injury kept Nottingham Forest's reigning 'Player of the Year' out of last Friday's game against German side Offenbach Kickers.

Calderwood has confirmed that Bennett won't figure in tonight's fundraising game for Treetops Hospice against Burton Albion at The Pirelli Stadium (kick-off 7.15pm) or tomorrow's trip to Telford.

Instead, The Reds have pencilled the defender in for a possible return in Friday's City Ground encounter with Everton.

"We will get some match action out of Jules this week,"

he told us, "but it won't be in the next two games. We'll look towards Friday.

"He's playing catch-up in terms of the amount of training that the rest of the lads have done and we do a little bit more strengthening work on his hamstring.

"There's a programme in place for him and ideally we'll get him involved some time in Friday night's game."

Tickets for the Everton game are available now, priced £12 for adults, £6 for senior citizens and £2 for under 18s. They are available in person from the Ticket Office; on-line at www.nottinghamforest.co.uk or by calling 0871 226 1980. Please buy early to avoid match-day queues.