Medics initially estimated the Austrian’s time on the sidelines could be six weeks after operating on his broken cheekbone at James Cook Hospital on Sunday.
Emanuel Pogatetz: “Now everything’s looking better and I’m feeling more positive.
“Hopefully, I can even start training next week, it just depends how I feel. Certainly I’d like to start to run and then see how it goes.
“If I’m training I’ll need to wear a protective mask, which obviously depends on the swelling going down.
“Hopefully I will be back soon. I’m lucky that it’s the international break coming up so I won’t miss as many games as I might normally have.”