Ashton injury wait

  • by Staff Writer
  • Sunday, 17th August 2008

Two-goal hero Dean Ashton will undergo a scan later today to discover the extent of the damage sustained to his calf.

Ashton suffered the knock when taking a second half free-kick during yesterday's 2-1 win against Wigan - and was immediately pulled out of the England squad set to face the Czech Republic later this week as a precautionary measure.

The 23-year-old striker got his season off to a flyer with two goals in the opening ten minutes of yesterday's game. But it was an all-too familiar story when he was forced to come off with 17 minutes to go after suffering the knock.

"I'm hopeful that it's just severe cramp," Ashton told the BBC after the game. "Obviously it feels a bit tight now but I'll have a scan tomorrow just to make sure. That's what I'm hoping it is.

"I'll know by Sunday or Monday whether that's okay then if selected it's down to the management of England whether they want me to join up or not."

Despite the disappointment at missing out on what would have been his second England cap, Ashton was delighted with the way the game went yesterday - and his two goals, both of which were very different.

"I was really pleased with my goals and to get them so early on, in the first game of the season is really nice," he added. "I'm just pleased that it ended up being the goals that won the game for us.

"The first goal, I think people associate me with those type of goals - a strong finish. But the second one, probably people don't think that I'm a goal poacher but I like to score them goals. If you can try and get as many of them a season, they're valuable goals.

"They mean as much to a forward as the first goal I scored today, the strong finish. Being in the right place at the right time."

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