Mark Davies believes he will soon be challenging to win back his first-team place after almost 12 months of injury torment.

A week and a half on from a cleaning-out operation on his right knee, the talented midfielder returns to light training tomorrow and hopes to be joining in with his team-mates in a fortnight or so.

"It feels the best it has felt for 10-12 months," Mark said today. "I had some cysts removed from the side of my knee last season and I've just had some more taken out which has cleaned things up.

"I'm doing some jogging to begin with, then I'll have a ball at my feet next week with a bit of luck and push on from there."

It was in the opening half-hour of last summer's home pre-season friendly against Aston Villa that Mark suffered the cartilage injury that forced him off and checked the momentum of a career that had previously been progressing in leaps and bounds.

An anticipated absence of a couple of months became one of much longer and, even when he returned to the first-team fold, it was only through a handful of mainly brief substitute appearances.

For a player who had enjoyed a substantial spell of senior football the season before, it was hard to take - even more so as he had not previously had an injury worthy of the name.

"I think the longest I had been out before this was for two or three weeks with an ankle strain," he added. "So this is my worst injury by far.

"It has been very frustrating and I've had to rely on my Mom and Dad and the physios here to get me through it.

"Now, hopefully, the worst is behind me and I can have a good run. When I was in the squad last season, I found it hard to break back into the side because the lads selected were doing well and taking the club to the play-offs.

"So I have to get myself back to 100 per cent fitness and prove myself again because I'm desperate to return to where I was."

Mark, now into the last year of his teens, also has the prospect of more international football to look forward to as he has one more season of eligibility for England under 19s - the side he twice played for last season in the company of Molineux team-mate Mark Little and Birmingham's Fabrice Muamba.