Julian Bennett is poised to return to match action for Nottingham Forest after more than 14 months on the sidelines.

Forest are looking to arrange a friendly next week to give Bennett the chance to hit the comeback trail.

The hugely popular left back has not played since suffering a serious knee ligament injury against Doncaster on Boxing Day, 2008.

But he has been back in full training for almost a month and has proved he's ready to resume his playing career.

Manager Billy Davies said: "We're hoping to maybe arrange a friendly next week and get him playing part of that game, which would be very good."