Andrews rise surprises his old club

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy believes Blackburn midfielder Keith Andrews' late blossoming into form has erased memories of him even playing for the club.

Andrews turns 29 on Sunday – 24 hours after a rare clash against his first club, who will be hoping he won't be as unrecognisable from the unfulfilled talent that left Molineux on a free transfer in May 2005 for then Championship side Hull.

Since leaving Wolves four-and-a-half years ago, after an injury-scarred 65 League appearances in five years, Andrews has turned himself into a solid, Premier League performer and been rewarded with a fistful of Republic of Ireland caps.

But his rise to fame has even taken the Wolves boss by surprise.

McCarthy said: "I reckon if anyone asked about Keith Andrews, they wouldn't even label him with Wolves, they'd label him with Milton Keynes Dons or Hull.

"I left the Ireland job seven years ago and Keith wasn't even playing in the under-21s squad at the time. Keith has blossomed and improved later in life.

"He's improved since he was here, he's improved since he was at Hull and he improved at MK Dons to be fair. And he's done really well at Blackburn, so good luck to him, but he wasn't one of my midfielders."

Andrews himself wants to gun down his old side – and top it off by scoring the winner after tipping them for a tough battle ahead.

He said: "It's great to see Wolves back in the Premier League – I'm really looking forward to going back there and hopefully scoring and winning!"

"It's going to be very hard for them – Stoke and Hull managed to stay up this time and credit to them, but Wolves have a very tough job ahead of them."