Andy Carroll will not be back for West Ham's opening match

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says Andy Carroll may have to wait until mid-September before making his comeback from injury, writes Ken Dyer.

Carroll, who joined from Liverpool for a club record £15million deal, injured a heel on the final day of last season.

The England striker (right) has been working hard to regain full fitness in recent weeks and believes he still has a chance of making the opening match of the new season, at home to Cardiff on August 17.

But Allardyce is more cautious. “Andy is making good progress and doing some running,” he said.

“We will look at things over the next week but considering where he is in his preparation, I would have thought that we’re looking more realistically at the match following the international break, which is Southampton away on September 15.”

Allardyce, meanwhile, will continue his search for another striker to replace the released Carlton Cole with Modibo Maiga the favourite to lead the attack against Cardiff.

Also in contention for a place in that squad is Ravel Morrison, who scored two goals in a 3-2 win over Sporting Lisbon last night, with captain Kevin Nolan netting West Ham’s other goal.