Injured Peterborough Panthers star vows to be back in the saddle soon

The popular Dane crashed at Glasgow three weeks ago and suffered broken bones in his hand, adding his name to a crippling list of injuries for the Crendon Panthers.

At the time, it put Ostergaard onto the sidelines along with fellow countrymen Hans Andersen and Michael Palm Toft, although Andersen has since returned to action after a shoulder injury.

Palm Toft’s situation is still uncertain after two attempted comebacks have been aborted, and he would have missed his Championship match for Plymouth on Tuesday had it not been postponed due to rain.

Whilst Panthers are out of contention for the Premiership play-offs, Ostergaard still has an incentive to return as Glasgow are definite title contenders in the Championship.

He said: “The injury is getting better day by day, but it's still painful and I still can't use my right hand.

“The doctor says it's going to be three to four weeks in a cast, but I'm hoping it will be off before then so I can start building things up in order to be able to handle the bike and strong enough to make a return to my clubs.

“So hopefully sometime around early September I should be OK and get a few matches in and score a few points.

“It's always frustrating being on the sidelines, but I'm hoping I can be back as quickly as possible.”Realistically that means Ostergaard is unlikely to be ready for next Thursday’s home clash with King’s Lynn, with the upcoming matches against the Stars likely determine which of the A47 rivals finishes bottom of the table.

But Panthers ideally need at least one of the injured riders on track in that meeting as it takes place on another date when all six Championship clubs in action, meaning guest options will be scarce.

Meanwhile, the club will be represented by Chris Harris and Benjamin Basso in tonight’s fifth round of the Premiership Pairs at Sheffield.

Harris has been an ever-present in the series so far whilst Basso makes his Pairs debut after scoring 12 and 9+2 on his two league visits to Owlerton this season.

Ipswich are red-hot favourites to win the competition after taking victory in each of the last three rounds, whilst Panthers’ best result so far was finishing fourth out of six in Round 3 at King’s Lynn, and they are vying with Wolverhampton to avoid the wooden spoon.