Shrewsbury Town’s Dutchman Benjamin van den Broek is eyeing a flying return from injury.

The striker-cum-midfielder suffered what was initially diagnosed as a fractured ankle in last week’s reserve team game against Preston.

But further scans have revealed only ligament damage and, after originally expecting to be sidelined for eight weeks, he now hopes to return by mid-October.

“It was good news this week because a scan showed up no fracture,” said van den Broek, who turned 23 on Tuesday.

“Hopefully it will be two to three weeks from now and when I’m back fit, I will definitely be looking to come back really strong.”

Van den Broek admitted he was frustrated by the timing of his injury, coming after a string of lively substitute outings.

“As a player, you always want to be in the starting XI but I had been brought on as a sub quite a few times and thought I had done okay,” he added.

“I played a good game in the reserves against Preston and hoped I was close to getting in the first team but then then injury came.

“But at least now we have had some good news and I can be back quicker than I first thought.”

Meanwhile, Shrewsbury have won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy’s Team of the Round award for their 1-0 northern section victory over Oldham thanks to a Steve Leslie goal.

“The first round was littered with cup shocks, but we felt that Shrewsbury Town’s success at Boundary Park – against a team doing so well in League One – deserved special recognition,” said Johnstone’s Paint Trophy’s sponsorship manager Teresa Hardwick.

The award will be presented on Monday.