Ashton Not Ready to Play

Dean Ashton has attempted to explain the misunderstanding that he was fit enough to play for West Ham again,

"I had a cortisone injection to get rid of some scar tissue about five weeks ago and after that everything was feeling really good. My ankle was actually feeling the best it has felt. So I started doing fitness work again. I was feeling great. But because I came out on to the training pitches, looking really good and being really optimistic, perhaps people got the wrong end of the stick. People got caught up in how well I had done in training."

Unfortunately it appears he still come way off being ready to play,

"I'm not even thinking about match-fitness at the moment. I am just trying to build myself up slowly. It's not a case of 'There you go, it's fine. Off you go, you can play again'. It's very complicated and it takes a long time for your ankle to get used to having weight on it."