AFTER scoring two fine goals on the Premier League’s opening day, the last thing Dean Ashton needs is another injury.

To put it mildly, the West Ham United striker has had his fill of setbacks over the past two years.

In August 2006, the 24-year-old was 48 hours away from an England debut when a tackle from Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips left him nursing a season-ending broken ankle. Complications during his recovery meant Ashton missed the entire 2006/07 season.

Last term, the £7.25million forward struggled to regain match-fitness and suffered a medial knee ligament injury that ruled him out for six weeks, restricting the Swindon-born player to just 11 goals.

On Saturday Ashton, who banged in six goals in pre-season, smashed home two more high-quality strikes before being forced off with what he hopes was simply cramp in his right calf.

The injury saw the frontman left out of the England squad for Wed-nesday’s friendly against the Czech Republic by coach Fabio Capello, who was at Upton Park at the weekend.

“I was really hoping I could get off to a goal-scoring start on the first day so I’m delighted to have scored two,” Ashton said afterwards.

“It puts you in that confident mindset where it makes you think you’re going to score every time you get a chance and all forwards like to get into that position.

“It’s always nice to feel that you’ve done well in a game regardless of who’s watching. I need to keep myself fit, keep playing well and score goals and hopefully that will give me a good chance of being in the England squad.

“I’m hoping it’s just severe cramp.”

Ashton underwent a scan on his calf on Sunday and will discover the full extent of any damage within the next day or two, but he is hopeful the injury will not rule him out of Sunday’s trip to Manchester City.

“It felt like cramp because I could feel spasms in my foot but I didn’t want to take any risks and it felt quite tight so I came off,” he confirmed.

The former Crewe Alexandra and Norwich City man also revealed plans to go on a diet in a bid to impress Capello after the Italian told him to cut down on his favourite pizza.

“If the England manager tells you that he wants you to lose weight then that’s what I’m going to do, it’s as simple as that,” he added.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get into the national side but because I had an injury for most of the year I was in the gym and bulked up.

“I’ve worked hard over the summer and I have lost some weight.”

And a leaner, meaner Ashton is planning to take out his cravings by feasting on Premier League defences.

“I always want to beat my goals record of the season before so I want to beat 10,” he added.

“As a striker, you always say that if you get 20 goals in a season then it’s been a good season and that’s what I’m striving for.”