Leo Ulloa is ready to welcome back Albion’s fit-again strikers with open arms as they push for the play-offs.

The Seagulls’ 12-goal top scorer wants to strike up a belated working relationship with Will Hoskins and Craig Mackail-Smith after both were injured in his first six weeks at the club.

Hoskins has sights set firmly on a return to first-team action after winning his tough 13-month battle against a knee injury.

And Mackail-Smith is back up and running in development squad matches after Achilles, foot and groin injuries.

Ulloa, bearing a heavy workload in attack, said: “I will welcome Will and Macca back with open arms. I want them back as soon as possible because we need them.

“I don’t really know either of them that well as players. I’ve hardly played with them.

“But, from what I’ve been told and the bits I’ve seen, they are very good players.”

Ulloa is delighted to see the injury list easing at just the right time. And he has praised head coach Oscar Garcia for his man-management during testing times.

He added: “What we have done so far this season really says a lot about us.

“After so many injuries, after losing players, after not many coming in, we are still there and we depend only on ourselves to get into the play-offs.

“Oscar just maintains this air of calmness. That is the way he is as a person and that is how he likes to work. He never throws in anything out of the ordinary during the week.”