Alan Smith has ruled out the possibility of an early return to action for Manchester United.
The striker came through his first public workout since his horrific double leg break at Liverpool in February last night, appearing for the first 66 minutes of a 7-2 reserve-team romp over Preston at Deepdale.
With Wayne Rooney suspended for three games, Smith's return prompted discussion over the possibility of the former Leeds man muscling his way on to the bench for Saturday's Premiership encounter with Watford.
Instead, the 25-year-old will remain restricted to second-string action during the forthcoming international break before a potential outing against Tottenham on September 9.
'Playing for the reserves is a step up from training and hopefully, in a few weeks time I will have had some more reserve games and then be able to make the step up to the first team' said Smith.
'I just need a few matches under my belt now.
'My movement was okay and I just need to build up my strength a little bit.
'I could probably have played all night and not scored but I have worked hard all summer to play in matches.'
Although Smith did not get on the score sheet as he re-appeared in public exactly 184 days since suffering an horrendous injury charging down John Arne Riise's shot at Anfield last February, he turned in his usual bustling display, particularly during the first half.
However, in a one-sided contest, his contribution to this evening's game was overshadowed by that of young strike partner Giuseppe Rossi.
Capped for the first time at under-21 level by Italy last week, Rossi converted two well-taken efforts after half-time to ensure the visitors progressed with the minimum of fuss.
Phil Marsh (2), Chris Eagles, Danny Rose and David Jones were also on target for the visitors.
