Shrewsbury Town defender Mike Jackson looks set to miss the start of the season – and could be sidelined by anything up to three months.

The grim news was delivered by manager Paul Simpson today. Jackson visited a specialist after suffering a setback in his rehabilitation from the knee problem which ruled him out of the end of last season.

It confirmed that the 35-year-old has bruising to the bone around the knee joint – an injury which could rule him out for anything between one and three months.

“It is quite a large area of bruising and, the way the specialist is talking, it is going to be anywhere between four and 12 weeks,” said Simpson.

“We are hoping it’s going to be somewhere in the middle of that.

“Mike has just got to shut himself down, not do any impact work on the knee joint and come back fitter and stronger for it.”

Simpson revealed Jackson had looked in peak fitness during the early weeks of pre-season.

“It’s a big blow because he was second and third fittest in the club in the running tests we were doing,” added the Town boss.

Like Jackson, Grant Holt will also miss tomorrow night’s opening friendly at Northwich Victoria after reporting minor discomfort with his ankle, which was operated on over the summer.

“Grant has done a lot of the training and we have nursed him back,” added Simpson.

“We played a game last Friday in training and he was limping. We made the decision to take him out of it for three or four days, let it settle down and get some treatment on it.

“He wants to be involved at the weekend against Telford so we will see how it goes.

“But we are not going to take any chances.”

• The Official Supporters Club are running a coach to Northwich. Bookings to Ian Venables on 07981-593437.

By JAMES GARRISON