The hard work is paying off

Nouha Dicko believes he is close to getting back to his best after returning from a long-term injury.

The forward has been back in first team action since October this year but, despite over ten league appearances since returning, Dicko maintains there is still room for improvement.

 

He said: "It's good to feel the hard work is paying off. The medical staff here are really good. Tony Daley and Richard Kirby are great, they've done really good work with me.

 

"I'm still working hard now. For me this was not an issue, I was confident these things would come back if I put the work in.

 

"You think you've made it but the rehab process continues even when you come back.

 

"The injury is following you, almost. You have to be a good professional. It's not easy mentally.

 

"I spoke with the manager and told him I needed to play games. To play 10 or 20 minutes and in and out wasn't going to help me to get back to where I want to be.

 

"He understood that but he's not going to play me to do me a favour. Now I need to do more and more. It's coming.

 

"I've felt quite good in the games I've played and I'm happy the manager has given me this chance to play games after games.

 

"Now I've been back for five months it's a good achievement for me.

 

"Of course I want to score but for me it's to stay fit, work hard for the team and feel I've given 100 per cent for the team."

 

Dicko netted twice in Wolves' Checkatrade Trophy win over Crewe Alexandra but he has yet to score in the Sky Bet Championship this season.

 

However, the forward believes that Wolves wins are more important than anything else and he knows the goals will come.

 

He said: "It would be really nice to score. At the moment the most important thing is wins. If I can help the team with some goals I would be really happy, but if we can get six points that’d be really good.

 

"I’m really happy to be back. It’s been a long year. As a manager you want your strikers to score goals but Lambert hasn’t talked to me about it much, it’s more from the fans and the journalists.

 

"The manager is focused on me working hard for the team. He says the goals will come. I feel a little closer each game."

 

Wolves approach the Christmas schedule on the back of a strong 2-0 win away at Nottingham Forest and Dicko hopes the team will be able to build on this victory as they host Bristol City and QPR in the coming weeks.

 

"It was a really important win. You saw the fans that came to the game, it meant a lot to the players," explained the striker.

 

"When you go to an away game and see you have a lot of fans travelling you always want to put in a good performance.

 

"It wasn't the best performance we could do, but we won.

 

"Now we have two games. If we can get two wins that would be a fantastic end to the year.

 

"It would be good to win at home. We haven't got the results we've wanted at home.

 

"The Fulham game was good, a really interesting game, but hopefully we get the three points this time.

 

"If we can turn things around at home that would be fantastic. I think we can do it but we need to work hard and stay focused."