Ashton reveals injury agony

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The West Ham striker was sidelined while training with England last August and has not kicked a ball in competitive action since then.

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Recovery: Ashton has been put through a tough regime to regain his fitness

The former Crewe and Norwich striker was missed as the Hammers struggled to stay in the Premiership and he admitted: "At your low points, you think you are never going to play again and that is a horrible feeling.

"Anyone who tells you they don't feel like that when they have gone through a long layoff would be lying. But the next day you don't feel like that and you have just got to get on with what you have got to do. It is just a long grind.

"There were many low points. Some days I was fine. Other days it just wasn't nice. You can't describe how difficult it has been - it was horrible."

Ashton was overjoyed when he was selected to play for England but he also told The Sun: "It was everything you have dreamed of and the next minute it's gone.

"It was hard to take but I felt I dealt with it as well as I could. Coming to the games was very difficult because you had people asking when I would be back and I wasn't sure.

"The worse thing is to watch football when you are injured. There is no real remedy for keeping up your spirit. Steve McClaren rang me and so did Terry Venables to see how I was doing.

"That gave me a lift but, other than that, it was just one of those things you have to deal with on your own and believe you will come back.

"I can definitely say that, by the start of the season, I will easily be the fittest and strongest I've ever been — that really excites me."