Dudek hoping to return to action

Last updated : 19 August 2005 By Al Campbell
Dudek dislocated his elbow last week and was ruled out for three months but tests have since shown that the injury is not as serious as first thought and Dudek could return to the first team squad next month.

"It's always bad news when you get injured," said Dudek. "But fortunately the good news for me is that it isn't as bad as we first thought and hopefully after five or six weeks out I could be ready to play again.
 
"The way the injury happened was very unlucky. It was one of the last exercises of the training session and my hand got stuck in the grass as I went for the ball. My elbow then went the other way and it looked very bad at the time. I had to react quickly and put my elbow back into place myself on the training field. I couldn't afford to think about it, I just did it.
 
"We went to the hospital straightaway and had all the necessary scans. We thought I could be out for three months but the next day the specialist told me that the England rugby captain suffered a worse dislocated elbow injury than mine and that he was back in six weeks. Hopefully it will be the same for me.
 
"I want to be back before the end of September. I have made a lot of progress over the last week. The swelling has mostly gone which is incredible and if I can keep making good progress then hopefully I can be back sooner rather than later."