DAVEY Watt targeted a swift return to action after he had sustained a broken left foot and damaged ankle ligaments days before the start of the Elite League season.

The Poole Pirates ace suffered the injuries when he laid his bike down during a pairs meeting at his Polish club, Krakow, on Sunday.

Former Pirates skipper Watt has since been assessed by doctors in Poland and will not require surgery.

However, the injury has ended the 37-year-old’s hopes of featuring in the Elite League-opening clashes against Swindon on Good Friday, and, potentially, a sizeable amount of April’s fixtures.

Watt told the Daily Echo: “I’m feeling pretty sorry for myself. I worked really hard to get fit and healthy over the winter and a freak accident hasn’t done me any favours.

“The doctors have said it’s going to take time but their idea of time and my idea of time are totally different things so we’ll wait and see who wins.

“You always try to come back quicker than the doctors say so I’m hoping it will only be a few weeks out.

“I’m not too sure how long it will be exactly because it’s still really painful. I can’t move it at all, so a comeback seems a long way off at the moment.

“Once the swelling goes down, we can start to make some progress.”

Recounting the incident in question, Watt told the Daily Echo: “It was a bit of a bad situation. The red lights came on because of a false start but they didn’t put them on until very late – we were going into turn three.

“The guy in front backed off going into the corner and the track was pretty grippy so I had to lay the bike down to avoid him.

“When I did that the bike hit one of the holes and bounced and I fell quite awkwardly. The bike landed on my foot.

“It was unfortunate but I had to lay the bike down to avoid him.”

Pirates are set to run rider replacement in the Queenslander's absence for both Swindon meetings, in which Chris Holder and Kyle Newman are due to return from minor knocks.

Reserve Paul Starke is set to miss the evening meeting due to his Premier League commitments with parent club Somerset, with former Robins rider Nathan Greaves to guest in his place.

Poole team manager Neil Middleditch admitted Watt’s injury was a substantial setback.

Middleditch said: “This early in the season it’s a massive blow, particularly with the double-header coming up.

“Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the beast, it’s a dangerous sport. He broke that same ankle before so he is in a great deal of pain.

“We’ve had three injury worries in a week, which is amazing, but Chris and Kyle will be back for us at Swindon, which is good news.”