West Ham to Gamble on Ashton's Fitness

Alan Curbishley appears ready to gamble on Dean Ashton's recovery by throwing him into a reserve game on Monday,

"Dean has started full running and it may be a question of taking a short cut with him so he might be involved a bit quicker," said Curbishley. "We've got a reserve game on Monday and he might be involved. He's been running fully for two weeks now as well as kicking a ball."

It appears that Ashton could even make an appearance on the bench against Sp@~rs and that West Ham have learnt little from rushing Lucas Neill back before he was fully recovered.