Shrewsbury Town hoping for Jordan Rossiter fitness boost

Rossiter, 27, checked in following a successful trial during the off-season having left Bristol Rovers at the end of last season.

The former Liverpool youngster felt an issue in his knee prior to the home league defeat against Peterborough earlier this month and boss Paul Hurst has since revealed Rossiter will have a painkilling injection to manage the situation.

That has now taken place and Hurst is hopeful Rossiter will be able to step up his level of training in a couple of weeks.

“He’s had the injection, my understanding is it will be a couple of weeks,” Hurst said.

“I’m not absolutely certain that is two weeks and back training if everything is fine or whether it’s two weeks pure rest, I know there are a couple of days where he can do nothing and then we can get him doing something, but how much I’m not quite sure so how quickly he could return we will have to see.”

Town are hopeful they have avoided any further fitness issues in the heart of midfield as skipper Carl Winchester hobbled off in a bit of discomfort early into the second half of Tuesday’s 2-0 EFL Cup defeat to Bolton. Hurst confirmed the hope is the withdrawal was a precaution after some hamstring pain was felt.

Shrewsbury, who remain without a point from three League One games, host fellow early strugglers Leyton Orient at Croud Meadow on Saturday.

Hurst added of his captain: “He said his hamstring was ‘grabbing’, I think they were the words that got back to me.

“A big part of that is concern but also precautionary. He wasn’t moving great so it looks like the obvious move to take him off.

“But in terms of how he’s described it at the minute I would hope that it might be OK, we can just keep our fingers crossed he’s OK.”

Town bowed out of the EFL Cup at the second hurdle as Bolton coasted to a 2-0 victory.

Two second-half goals were labelled “extremely avoidable” by the Shrewsbury boss as an error-strewn defensive display was punished.

Town were in the tie at 0-0 before defender Aaron Pierre lost the ball in his own six-yard box and Jordi Osei-Tutu broke the deadlock.

Shrewsbury attacks were at a premium and Dion Charles settled the affair just after the hour-mark.