Ashton comeback is still on hold

Ashton has been missed by struggling West Ham this season

West Ham striker Dean Ashton says he is still a long way off from making his comeback from a broken ankle.

Ashton has not featured this season after suffering his injury for England in August and has warned that he needs longer to recover.

"I'm not thinking about match-fitness," the 23-year-old said.

"Because I came out on the training pitches looking good and being really optimistic, perhaps people got the wrong end of the stick."

It was hoped that Ashton could feature for West Ham's reserves against Charlton on Monday night, but the striker says he must take time in his build up to full fitness.

He added: "I'm just trying to build myself up slowly.

"People see it as just a broken bone. It's more complicated than that. I had a cortisone injection to get rid of some scar tissue about five weeks ago and after that everything was feeling really good.

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"My ankle was actually feeling the best it has felt. So I started doing fitness work again. I was feeling great."

Ashton scored six goals for West Ham after joining from Norwich for £7.25m last January including one in the FA Cup final which they lost to Liverpool on penalties.