LUCKLESS Dani Rodrigues is vowing to return to action "as soon as possible" after his nightmare start to the season took another turn for the worse.

Rodrigues limped out of Cherries' 4-0 win over Port Vale on Saturday after suffering a hamstring injury midway through the first half.

And although the pain was in a different area, Rodrigues has told the Daily Echo it was the same hamstring he damaged in early August, an injury which sidelined him for a month.

The 24-year-old, who has managed just one full appearance since returning to the club in the summer, is expected to discover the full extent of the damage when he has a scan later today.

It was a bitter blow for the popular Portuguese striker who reclaimed his place against Colchester five weeks ago and had netted three goals in Cherries' four previous games.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo last night, Rodrigues said: "It's very frustrating especially when the team is doing so well and I've been scoring a few goals.

"I don't like it, but things like this happen when you least expect them so I just have to make sure I recover quickly and get back as soon as possible."

Rodrigues, who was replaced by Steve Fletcher after just 24 minutes, added: "I went to have a shot and as soon as I struck the ball, I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring.

"I knew straight away that I had pulled it so I had to come off. It's the same hamstring that I damaged at the start of the season, but the pain was much lower down than before.

"I'm having a scan tomorrow to see how bad the damage is and hopefully I'll find out roughly how long I'm going to be out.

"It's very difficult to say at the moment because you can't really tell until after you've had the scan. I would say three to four weeks for definite, but it depends how quickly it heals."

Boss Sean O'Driscoll, speaking at his post-match press conference, said he feared Rodrigues could be out until December: "They are usually around six weeks so I would imagine he won't be back before then."

Leading 1-0 through John Spicer at the time of Rodrigues's departure, Cherries hit three goals in seven minutes either side of half-time to kill off the Valiants.

Brian Stock added to his hotly-disputed 39th-minute strike with a stunning volley on the stroke of half-time before Warren Cummings bagged another beauty just seconds after the break.

But despite guiding Cherries into fifth place in League One, O'Driscoll played down his side's chances when asked whether they could be considered as "live promotion contenders".

He said: "We lose Dani with a torn hamstring and we've got a game on Tuesday.

"I had to bring big Steve Fletcher off because I was thinking 'we've got a game on Tuesday and I don't really want him to play for too long and have a reaction to his knee'.

"So it won't change for us, we live on a knife edge. But it is nice when the side is as strong as it is to get as many points as we can because we know it will turn and we will have lean times. Maybe that gives us a little bit of a cushion."