Crocked Alan Rogers is eyeing a return date with his boyhood club next week.

The defender's hamstring injury, which he suffered in the first half against Port Vale, is not as serious as first thought.

Rogers, who was able to jog on the treadmill yesterday, will miss City's next two games but is hopeful of declaring himself fit for the Valley Parade clash with Tranmere a week on Saturday.

"It would be a nice one to be involved in because I came through the youth team there," said the Liverpudlian.

"But that aside, I just want to get fit and be playing again. I knew it would take time to build up my fitness because I'd not had a proper pre-season, so I was always going to be slightly behind.

"I don't think I'm 100 per cent where I want to be. My game is all about getting up and down and supporting the winger and I can't keep doing that for 90 minutes at the moment.

"I felt I was slowly getting there after three games so this injury is a setback to that. But it's a long season and I know I'll get better as it goes on.

"There is good competition at left back but there's nothing wrong with that. If you're not at the races, you're going to be out the team, which is a good thing."

Rogers is still on a week-to-week contract with City but insists that is not a problem.

He said: "Nothing has changed from when I first signed. Everybody was happy with it then and nobody has spoken to me since, so it doesn't bother me.

"The main thing is that I'm here to hopefully play regular football and, once my hamstring is sorted, I'll be trying hard to win back my place."

Rogers sits out the trips to Cheltenham and Doncaster - a ground where he won 8-0 in his only previous visit nine years ago with Nottingham Forest.

He also knows what it is like to be on the wrong end of such a thumping. Just 18 months later, Rogers was in the Forest side whacked 8-1 at home by Manchester United.