Greg Halford is still trying to forget what happened to him at Sunderland.

But the Wolves utility man is hoping to leave the Black Cats with a memory of him when he gets stuck into old side at the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

Halford was Roy Keane’s first signing when he was being talked about as one of the game’s top emerging full-backs with Gareth Bale when they both made their big moves to Sunderland and Tottenham respectively in summer 2007.

But while Bale is still trying to force his way into the Spurs side, Halford quickly found his face didn’t fit under the uncompromising Keane and there was no way back.

Two unlucky red cards in eight games didn’t help, but the 24-year-old found the writing was on the wall before he had even had a proper chance to show what he could do.

“I would like to forget what happened up there, but at the same time I want to go back and prove to myself that I was good enough and put a few wrongs right,” said Halford.

“I never really had a chance to do that. I had a couple of games here and there, but no run in the side like I’ve had at Wolves.

“At the beginning I didn’t help myself with two red cards in eight games which was unlucky but I wasn’t given a proper run-out when the opportunity was there.

“Those cards shouldn’t really have counted against me.”

Halford added: “I was Roy Keane’s first signing. They made quite a big deal of it, but I just wasn’t given a proper opportunity.

“The fans knew what I could do when I went up there as I had put in a good performance with Colchester.

“They wanted to sign me the day after we played them.

“So everyone knew what I could do up there, I just never got the chance.”

Despatched out on loan to the Championship, first to Charlton and last season to Sheffield United, Halford had just the one phone call from Sunderland – but not from Keane.

Instead, it came from chairman Niall Quinn, who described Halford’s signing as one of the biggest disappointments during his time at the club.

“I spoke to ‘Quinny’ once while I was on loan at Sheffield,” said Halford. “That was the only contact I had was when I was on loan at Charlton or Sheffield.

“He said: ‘You never know what is around the corner.’

“I was playing well at Sheffield and I expected a call back because Sunderland were struggling. It never came. He knew what I could do – he tried to persuade me to sign when I got the man of the match award for Colchester against Sunderland.

“So it was a massive disappointment for myself and everyone at Sunderland. But it’s all in the past now and I’m a Wolves player.”

Now Halford, who is expected to line up at right-back despite Kevin Foley’s return in the Carling Cup defeat at Old Trafford in midweek, is hoping to show both the Sunderland and Wolves fans his true potential.

“There have been glimpses of what I can do, but I’m not totally satisfied with the way I’ve been playing,” he said.

“But I’m just grateful for the run in the team I’ve already had.

“I think there’s a lot more to come. I said at Sheffield United when I hit form after Christmas, it’s no coincidence that I was at a club for more than six months and putting down some roots and my form got better. I’m sure the same will happen here.”

One of the chief assets of play-anywhere Halford is his long throw, which bamboozled the Fulham defence to allow Kevin Doyle to score his first Wolves goal in the 2-1 win last weekend.

It’s a weapon he wasn’t able to use at Sunderland, but is hoping to continue with good effect at the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

“A lot of goals were scored at Colchester and Sheffield United from it, but other clubs I’ve been at haven’t used it as effectively as I would have liked,” he said.

“We’ve been practising them in training to hit a certain area and luckily enough, it paid off.

“I put one in just before we scored which Brede Hangeland headed clear, but I knew exactly where to put it next time and it paid off with Doyle doing what he does best, which is poach goals.”

Wolves’ other former Sunderland player, Jody Craddock, looks like having to be content with a place on the bench. Michael Mancienne is expected to return alongside in-form Christophe Berra after ineligibility kept him out of the United tie.