Michael Kightly believes his first half performance at Hereford on Wednesday was his best since returning from the ankle injury which effectively cut his 2007/08 season in half.

And yet as a further boost to Wolves supporters still delighted at their hero's new four-year contract this summer - and perhaps also as a word of warning to Championship defences - Kights is confident there is still much more to come.

That troublesome ankle problem saw Kights make just two brief substitute appearances between mid-November and mid-April last season, before returning to start the final three fixtures.

There may have been a goal on his return against Cardiff - he sometimes seems to write his own scripts - but the winger has now revealed he was "nowhere near" his usual standards.

And that is why he is so happy to be back building up his fitness and game time in the hope of hitting the ground running at Plymouth on August 9.

"With the injury last year it was obviously frustrating for me and so coming back this pre-season I've been really excited," says Kights.

"I was nowhere near how I can play when I came back last season which is understandable because I'd had so long out.

"I was fairly happy with the way I did and I scored against Cardiff and was involved in a few other goals as well.

"But I wasn't anywhere near the level I can be and Hereford was probably the best I've done since I came back from injury.

"I felt sharp and I felt strong, and as I get fitter hopefully I'll really hit the ground running at the start of the season.

"It does take time to get used to moving back into the right positions, timing your run or playing people in.

"It takes games to get back into that rhythm but against Hereford I felt it was coming back and we've still got a few more games ahead.

"Hopefully by August 9 everything will be ready to go."

Kights admits there was both individual and collective disappointment with how Wolves launched their pre-season programme at Wrexham six days ago.

But he also reflects that it was perhaps an acceptable side-effect of the Tony Daley-inspired fitness regime which has been described by several players as the best they have undertaken and is designed to see Wolves at full 90-minute throttle by August 9.

"It's been tough to be fair, probably the hardest pre-season I've done," says Kights.

"Against Wrexham, I don't know about the rest of the boys but personally I felt very leggy and didn't feel sharp at all.

"The game seemed a bit lackadaisical and I think we were all frustrated and disappointed by that.

"I think you always get games like Wrexham first up because the balls have only been out a few days and you've been working on getting your fitness up.

"The first game always seems a nothing game and it's disappointing because you're still playing in front of the fans who have travelled and it ends up being not a very good game.

"But even thought it was only a friendly it shows the character of the boys that we weren't happy about how we performed because even though at the moment it's all about fitness we want to do well in every game.

"And Hereford was a lot better.

"Both while I was playing and then watching the second half I thought we were a lot sharper and clearly looked the fitter side which was pleasing.

"We don't want to be at our sharpest yet, we want to be at our sharpest on August 9^th.

"But the characters that are in the dressing room and the professionals that we are we want to do well every game.

"Hereford was a massive improvement on Saturday and if we can keep our fitness up and keep improving that standard we'll be fine."

Of course Wednesday night saw Kights once again back amongst the goals thanks to a well-timed volley which cancelled out Hereford's early penalty and paved the way for Wolves to comfortably secure a 3-1 win.

Pleased as he was with the strike, and finding the net has always been such a key part of the winger's game, he is already setting his sights on reproducing the goods when the real business starts next month.

"It was a nice finish," he acknowledges.

"I think about ten minutes before one came over like that and I'd taken a touch so the second time I thought I'd just hit it on the volley.

"It's always good to score and hopefully  I'll have a few more of them to come in more important games."

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