Wolves summer signing Tommy Doyle reaping rewards after waiting patiently

The midfielder has had to wait patiently for an opportunity this season but with Mario Lemina on compassionate leave, Doyle has started the last two games.

He followed a superb showing against Everton with his first Wolves goal against Brentford in the FA Cup, a wonderful effort from 25 yards, and the head coach is not surprised to see Doyle earning his rewards.

“He works so hard, Tommy, every day around the place,” O’Neil said.

“To add to that really, this week when we got the new balls from Mitre — normally we play with a Nike ball in the Premier League — Tommy wanted to do extra work with the ball to get used to it.

“He did extra shooting this week, extra long-range passing. That is how diligent and professional he is. He wants to get the best out of himself and cover everything he can.

“When he dragged the ball on to his left foot, I thought, ‘oh, not sure Tom’, but he rifled it in the top corner, such an incredible goal and he deserves it.

“His performances against Everton and Brentford were fantastic for us when we’ve been missing one of our key players in Mario. Tommy stepped up.”

Doyle taking his chance also provides a message to other fringe players in the Wolves set up, as O’Neil contends with a small squad.

He added: “You build trust from the manager, from your team-mates, from the supporters, and it’s no surprise that he does well when he comes in because he trains so hard. He doesn’t have a minute off in training. You never see him get disappointed.

“You never see him train at 80 per cent. He works incredibly hard and those guys are always ready.

“You can throw them in at any moment, they might not have played for three or four weeks, but because of how they go about it every day you know you can throw them in and you know they will be ready.

“I’m delighted for Tommy because it’s his first real crack at the Premier League this year.

“We’ve had two fantastic midfielders in front of him that have played an awful lot of minutes. He’s had to wait and be patient, but he’s done really well since he’s come in.”

Meanwhile, Dan Bentley, Craig Dawson and Hugo Bueno all missed the trip to Brentford with fairly minor injuries and O’Neil hopes to have them back soon.

He said: “Bentley has had a small medical procedure. He’ll only miss this game and be back for the next one.

“Daws had a slight issue with the wound on his knee after the Everton game, so he was unavailable.

“Hugo has a small problem in his calf. We’ve got Doc who can play left-back, but he’s (Bueno), probably the only left-footed left-back we’ve got at the club and Rayan (Ait-Nouri) could be away for four to five weeks.

“With Hugo not really training this week and the scans showing a small bit of damage in his calf, it was just one we couldn’t risk.

“Hugo won’t be far away. I expect him to rejoin the group in training in the next few days.

“Pushing him through a 90 minute game could have turned into a four to six week injury, which we can’t afford at this moment.”