Soccer AM

Kightly: aiming high

Wolves winger Michael Kightly told Soccer AM he never thought he'd play football at such a high level.

Kightly's rise to prominence has been swift, going from non-league football to playing in the Championship in the space of just 18 months.

In that time he has also won three England U21 caps and been the named the Football League's young player of the year, but Kightly revealed he never believed he would be good enough to play in the second tier of English football.

"I thought I could play football league, but I never thought that I could make the step up like I have," he said. "And obviously to play for England is a great achievement."

Making that step up has also meant playing in front of much larger crowds and Kightly admitted that the buzz of scoring in front of 12 thousand fanatical fans at Molineux was on a completely different level to anything he had ever experienced during his non league days.

"After my first goal I ended up fighting my team mates to get them off me because I wanted to try and jump into the crowd!"

"I've scored a few more goals since and I'm a bit calmer now, but I was a nightmare after my first goal!"

Play-offs

Wolves have been hovering just below play-off positions for much of the season, but with seven games of the season left Kightly admitted the club are still dreaming of playing at the likes of Old Trafford and Anfield next season.

"You've got to think about things like that," he said. "It's where we want to be and it where I want to be, playing at stadiums like that.

"If you don't dream then you're not going to get there, so of course we do, and I think we can get there."

Injury boost

The former Grays Athletic player has been seriously hampered by an ankle injury this season, but after a successful operation he had some good news for the Wolves faithful.

"I just had a little bone at the back of my ankle near my Achilles that was just giving me a bit of grief and I was getting sharp pains in my Achilles, so I've had that shaven off."

"I've been out nearly four months now and after so many injections on it, it was just best to get [the operation] done, but hopefully I can get back in the next couple of weeks."