The Owls striker is enduring another potentially lonely lay-off as he recovers from a freak setback.

He is weeks away from a comeback after rupturing a tendon at the back of his knee in the first match of the season.

"But I'm keeping myself positive," he said.

"The manager is right behind me, the boys are right behind me, helping me to take it steady and get myself fit again."

Sodje, who went off on the opening day of the season against Burnley on August 9 after scoring two goals and making another, has yet to resume running or kick a ball.

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"I've stepped up my training; the leg is getting a bit stronger. I've been on the bike and on the cross-trainer in the gym.," he said.

"I'm trying to improve every day. I just need to take it slowly.

"When I went to see the specialist, he was saying six to eight weeks before the injury has fully recovered and he said it could take longer.

"So my target is six to eight weeks from when I did it to being back in full training."

He feels that a little time may have to be added to that for him to regain football fitness.

"It's been three weeks now, so hopefully in around seven weeks I'll be fully fit," he added.

"There's nothing broken. I just need to be careful, as this sort of thing can reoccur."

The lay-off is proving doubly frustrating for Sodje as he missed a large part of last season with ankle damage - and had never suffered a serious injury before he joined the Owls from Port Vale.

"I was out for five months last season, altogether. I was in all through the summer, working on my rehabilitation and training," he revealed.

"I didn't really have a holiday. I got back to full fitness. Then I got injured again. So it's been quite frustrating."

Aside from the odd injury, Wednesday are pleased with the level of the squad's fitness.

Tests have been carried out this week, during the international break, and have shown that endurance levels are up by 25 per cent since the summer.

Tom Little, the club's fitness coach, said: "All the fitness levels are up, and in particular the endurance. Those results show a 25 per cent increase since pre-season, so obviously I'm delighted with that.

"The players had a busy pre-season. There have been plenty of games between then and the first weeks of the season, so this is a good time for them all to take a couple of days off and recharge the batteries.

"We're not taking as much time out as some clubs, so this week we're concentrating on mainly fitness work and then it will be business as usual when we regroup next week ahead of playing Watford."

Don't miss this Saturday's Green'Un for a colour poster of Tony McMahon

WANT-AWAY WOOD SET FOR TRIAL BY FANS - for the full story, see the Green'Un newspaper, available from Saturday night


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