Gray's made an impression at Molineux

Aug 1 2007 By Paul Berry, Birmingham Mail

MICHAEL Gray slotted seamlessly into the Wolves defence on his first start at Northampton - which came as no surprise to his manager and team-mates.

Although Gray himself admits he's not yet at peak fitness, he staked a claim to start the season at left back with an impressive hour in last night's 3-0 win, also getting forward to deliver some quality crosses.

"Micky Gray was excellent," said boss Mick McCarthy. "I always knew what he'd bring to the team. He's been training on his own but he's a very fit lad for coming up 33. But he'd not had any football.

"It's all very well running and cycling and working in the gym but you've got to be playing football. He doesn't need to learn anything, he just needs to play, and that was his third bit of a game last night."

Michael Kightly also revealed Gray had immediately secured the respect of the Wolves dressing room.

"Micky Gray hasn't played in the Premiership all these years for no reason," he added. "You can tell in training he's a great player.

"He's very good on the ball and he's experienced and that's what we need with the youth we've got."