September 15 2006

Tom Soares

TOM SOARES has received positive news about the extent of his ankle injury picked up during the defeat against Southampton.

Peter Taylor initally feared the midfielder had a crack in his ankle which would put him on the sidelines for up to three months.

However X-rays have shown that there is no crack and SOARES should be back in contention for a return to the side in a months time.

The England U-21 player will have another scan on the ankle after the brusing has been reduced to get a clearer picture.

Taylor told the official Palace website: "It's not as bad as we first thought and he's having another scan after the bruising goes down.

"We're hopeful that it's only going to be a month, whereas the other night it looked as if it could have been three months.

"There is no bone crack shown from the x-ray but the scan will make things a bit clearer and we're hopeful it's not too bad.

"It's good news because he was very, very positive the other night and was very good for us."

Meanwhile, Taylor is hoping that both Carl Fletcher and Ben Watson will be back to full fitness for the Coventry game on the 23th September.

Fletcher is recovering from an ankle injury and Watson had surgery to remove a hernia.