Shrewsbury Town are sweating on the fitness of in-form striker Andy Cooke ahead of tomorrow night’s League Two visit of Notts County.

Cooke was stretchered off with an ankle injury in the dying seconds of Saturday’s trip to Boston as the impressive 3-0 victory took a sour late twist.

And manager Gary Peters admits it’s touch-and-go whether the experienced marksman – who took his season’s tally to double figures with a perfectly placed strike on Saturday – will be ready for tomorrow.

“It’s not as bad as we thought as we saw Cookey going off on a stretcher,” said the Town chief.

“He only did that for protection and to avoid putting his foot on the ground.

“The feeling started to come back in the ankle in the changing rooms so it’s fingers crossed he will be fit for Tuesday.

“He was better yesterday than he was on Saturday and we will have to see how he is today.

“Hopefully the improvement will have continued but if he’s not ready we will deal with it.”

Should Cooke fail to recover in time, it would give Town an attacking headache with leading scorer Michael Symes already ruled out as he serves the second of a three-math suspension.

And that could pave the way for Leo Fortune-West to make at a rare start alongside the pacy Derek Asamoah.

Peters was delighted with Saturday’s showing which saw Town rise to 13th in League Two.

“We had to go there and get three points and we did the job – and a professional one at that because it wasn’t really in much doubt,” he added.

“Our tactics suited the situation and the players carried them out brilliantly.”

Peters confirmed skipper Richard Hope was fit and available for selection for the weekend, but added: “Everyone has to earn their place in the team here and Richard had only had one reserve game in five weeks and needs to get his match sharpness back.”

* Club secretary John Howarth today updated fans on the prospects of the troublesome Gay Meadow pitch being ready for action tomorrow night.

“At this moment in time there’s no inspection planned. They are working on it today and we will assess where we are at in the morning.”

By James Garrison