Soccer:Kevin Doyle admits he is facing an uphill battle to play any further part in Wolves' Premier League survival fight. The Republic of Ireland striker is resigned to being sidelined for at least another month with the knee injury suffered on international duty a fortnight ago.

That will rule Doyle out until the penultimate weekend of the domestic campaign and, having had no action for so long, means he is unlikely to be risked.

“We are probably looking at six weeks out from when I did it — at least,” the striker conceded. “It is not going to be the four weeks which was the most optimistic forecast initially. That’s pretty certain.

“We can’t try any harder to get it right. We are doing everything anyway. It is going to take however long it takes. But there is no point in me trying to come back early and injuring myself again. I’m still aiming to come back before the end of the season but it’s going to be close.”

Doyle added: “I can’t do a lot at present. The knee is still sore. I’m not out jogging or anything like that so it will be another week or two. It’s in a brace. I’m trying to do bits to keep it moving and stuff. I’m in the pool and I can do some easy stuff on it. But I won’t be running for a week or two.”

Doyle admits the injury is the most frustrating of his career given the timing of it when Wolves were on song after a four game run which yielded eight points. Now successive hammerings by Newcastle and Everton have pushed them back into the relegation zone.

Doyle said: “It is the most frustrating injury of my career because I felt I was starting to play pretty well. We were playing well as a team and looking to finish the season on a high. It is annoying and by the time I am fit again it might be too late to be involved again this season.”