Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy has revealed that winger Michael Kightly could be missing well into the New Year after sustaining ankle damage during the derby defeat by Birmingham City.

 

Kightly’s appearances this season have been curtailed by foot and hip problems and McCarthy was looking forward to having him back fully fit and firing on all cylinders. However, with the 23-year old possibly out for two months, the former Sunderland and Republic of Ireland boss is very disappointed. "He's had a scan and it looks like he'll need operation, which would be six to eight weeks out“ said McCarthy, “The way he went over and rolled his ankle, apparently he's quite lucky and it could have been worse. We've not really had Michael at his full potential yet and Sunday was the first time we'd maybe seen that and then he picks up a new injury.”

McCarthy will be looking for his Wolves side to step up their performances and he was realistic about their inability to break down the Brummies at the weekend. "We didn't start. We didn't get going. We didn't lay a finger on them or a boot on them. They were 1-0 up after three minutes and then it was really difficult to do anything about it.”