Shropshire Star

Wolves' Matt Doherty: I'm still not 100 per cent

Wing-back Matt Doherty admits he is still not at 100 per cent despite his fine form for Wolves in recent weeks.

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The Irishman scored in the win over Watford, started the victory at Besiktas in the Europa League and then was solid as a substitute in the triumph at Premier League champions Manchester City.

Those performances have been more of what we have come to expect from the 27-year-old, but he insists there is plenty more to come as he is still dealing with the effects of a pre-season knee injury.

“I’ve had a knee injury that I hurt in the first weeks of the season, and then I came back way too soon on that,” said Doherty, who started the first three league games.

“It set me back, but I was still involved, I was still training on it. But it didn’t feel good, it’s only starting now to feel a bit better.

“Sometimes now, I still feel it. It’s probably 90 per cent. It doesn’t feel the same as my left one, but I can play on it.”

Doherty has struck up a promising partnership with Adama Traore on the right flank for Wolves.

The club’s longest-serving current player has also been away with Ireland over this international break.

“In another couple of weeks, it should be back to where I was,” said Doherty, who is looking to start against Southampton at Molineux on Saturday.

“It was innocuous enough. It was in pre-season and I just sort of fell over and the ground was obviously hard enough because it was summer. I just hit it too hard.

“It wasn’t like a tackle, I just skipped past someone and then I got up and ran around, but you know when something just doesn’t feel right.

“It was only three to six weeks initially, but then I came back too soon and when you keep irritating it, it just takes a lot longer. That’s been pretty much the case.”