Mark Wright confident of Shrewsbury Town return

Shrewsbury Town's leading scorer Mark Wright is confident he will be ready for pre-season - despite having to go under the surgeon's knife.

The 28-year-old scored 14 times last season from a wide position but was troubled by a hernia problem during the closing weeks of the campaign.

An operation was delayed as the former Walsall and MK Dons man was nursed through the final weeks of the season.

But Wright is confident he will be ready to return to training with the rest of the squad when they re-assemble on June 28 or 29.

"I think my operation is down for June 13 and the rehabilitation programme isn't too bad," said Wright.

"I'm hoping to start running again within eight to 10 days so hopefully I won't miss much, if any, of pre-season.

"I felt the injury a little bit in the games at the end of the season but hopefully once the operation is done, it will be all sorted."

Wright enjoyed a fine first season at the Greenhous Meadow.

His final tally of 14 goals far exceeded his annual pre-season target of eight, while he also converted his loan move from Bristol Rovers into a permanent switch.

But he admits the heartache of coming so close to promotion— Town missed out on automatic by one point before losing in the play-off semi-final to Torquay — still lingers.

"You do still think about it a lot and watching the play-off final brought it back because it could have been us,"added the wide man. "But we have to look forward and make sure we give ourselves a good chance of getting promoted next season."

By JAMES GARRISON