Wolves' Matt Doherty 'can't afford' to get injured again

Doherty played his first 90 minutes since November 23 when he came through the full game in the 1-1 draw away to Coventry on Saturday after surprisingly replacing captain Sam Ricketts.

And the 22-year-old is just relieved to be fully fit again after breaking down on his three previous comebacks with different hamstring injuries.

But he knows he has a job to retain his place with Ricketts voted into the PFA's League One team of the year and competition from Ethan Ebanks-Landell.

"Over the summer I'll be doing a lot of work to get back to that stage to come back fit and strong for next season," said the Ireland Under-21 international.

"I can't really afford to get injured again.

"I just want to get back to how I felt then with my body which I'm not at yet.

"I need to get myself in the best shape possible for the start of the season and do everything I can to avoid breaking down in any way.

"I need to be, as the gaffer has said, rock solid, and so I'll be working as hard as I can over the summer to get into that situation.

"I was flying at the time of the injury and it came at the worst moment, then the second at the worse moment and the third as well.

"It's been frustrating but hopefully it's not going to happen again next season."

Doherty made his big breakthrough in the Championship last season, when his performances suggested he can flourish at that level - even though Wolves were relegated - and was eventually rewarded with a new three-year contract to 2016 last September.

"I thought I did well enough last season even though we got relegated," he said.

"I felt so good at the start of the season at the top of my fitness and felt I was playing well."

Doherty feels he is on the down the road to full fitness after emerging unscathed at the weekend.

"I started at Sheffield United but couldn't complete the game so I was happy to get through 90 without any injury worries," he said.

"There was a bit of tightness and a bit of cramp but that's normal in this situation and I'd much rather have a spot of cramp than a muscle injury.

"I was happy to get through the game and thought I did alright.

"Defensively I maybe wasn't fully sharp but you only get that with matches, and I grew into the game and think I held up fine."

Doherty is now hoping to be part of the team aiming to break the League One points record with Saturday's curtain call at home to Carlisle when a second successive 30,000 Molineux crowd is expected.

"We want to finish on a winning note," he said.

"We want the points record, we want to do well in front of a big crowd, and Carlisle might be going for points to be safe.

"For the sake of the league we can't let up and have to give our best against Carlisle as it wouldn't be fair on the other teams if we didn't.

"It will be a good atmosphere and we'll be 'at it'.

"We may be champions but everyone is driving each other on and we want to win."