| Striker Gary Hooper is hoping to stay on course for a sooner-than-expected return to training following his ankle injury. Hooper sprained his ankle ligaments against Kilmarnock a fortnight ago and initial fears he had suffered a fracture were dispelled by a scan . He began jogging again this week and could be back in full training in two weeks' time. Hooper said: "It was really sore when it happened. I knew I'd done something and had to go for the scan, but I've been lucky really. I was initially told it would take six weeks but it happened two weeks ago yesterday and I'm jogging already, so hopefully it will be shorter than that. I have to take it easy and hope my ankle doesn't react so the jogging hasn't been too intense. It's just been light and slightly quicker than a walk." Georgios Samaras scored twice in last Sunday's 2-0 win over Rangers which saw Celtic take a four-point lead at the top of the SPL and could mean Hooper's return to the team is postponed for a while. Hooper went on: "Every striker is a threat to my place in the team, not just Georgios for getting two goals against Rangers. I'm just concentrating on my own game, though. I just want to get back playing and that's the main thing. My only target is to not get injured again. I want to stay out of the physio room and keep scoring goals for Celtic." |