Steven Fletcher's on the road to hero status

In an age where millions of words about football are written, read, repeated, retweeted, pored over and argued against every single day, some get massively overused, writes Wolves blogger Tim Spiers.

'Crisis' would be one – as in Chelsea have lost two games so they're in the midst of a crisis.

'Legend' is another, so is 'genius' or 'disaster', while phrases like six-pointer, must-win game and "that's awful defending" are more overworked than Mario Balotelli's PR team.

And then there's the word 'hero', which strictly speaking should be used only in the most exceptional of circumstances.

The dictionary defines a hero as "a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities."

In football terms a true hero is a very rare thing indeed, but I bring the subject up because our very own Steven Fletcher was labelled as such this week.

Seeing as he's only scored 17 goals in a gold shirt I wouldn't go quite that far yet, but Fletcher is certainly making a name for himself at Molineux.

The fact that he single-handedly won us the game last Sunday went unnoticed by the national media, who chose instead to concentrate almost exclusively on Martin O'Neill's impending challenge.

But Fletcher's match-winning contribution almost faded into the background for me, too, so normal did it seem.

Goalscoring is something he's made an excellent habit of during his time at Molineux, having scored his 17 goals from just 26 starts.

All this despite often struggling for fitness and being utilised in a variety of roles, be it on his own up front, with a strike partner or even out wide.

He just keeps knocking them in though, particularly with his head, and he now apparently tops the scoring charts for Premier League headed goals in 2011 with eight.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Fletcher is even on the pitch at all until he more than frequently pops up with a goal.

That's not to belittle his overall contribution, but he goes about his business in such an unassuming manner, doing the simple things well and very rarely making errors.

In a way I think he reins himself in, forgoing the flamboyant tricks and flicks which he clearly has in his armoury in order to play the percentage game.

What he does bring to the table is a languid yet fearless attitude, top class movement, vision, awesome skill, a delicate first touch and a frightening ability to convert a half chance in a heartbeat.

And to think he's still only 24 years old.

While Kevin Doyle's form too often hits peaks and troughs Fletcher remains a constant in that, even if he's having a bad game, he's always likely to find a goal from somewhere.

And with Doyle surprisingly substituted last weekend the balance of power between the two has probably shifted for the first time, with Fletcher now the senior striker at the club.

Doyle has rightly been the first name on the team-sheet for the best part of two and a half seasons, but since signing a new contract in September he has failed to recreate his best form and if we were to play one up front at Old Trafford tomorrow I would bet on Fletcher getting the role.

Even if Mick McCarthy plumped for a front two I'd wager that Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has a decent chance of starting, as Doyle and Fletcher's partnership has hit the rocks lately.

Hopefully Doyle can find his top form before long, as if he and Fletcher could make their partnership work they'd be as good as anything that a team outside the top six could offer.

If Fletcher was English you'd even fancy him as an outside bet for Fabio Capello's squad next summer if his goal ratio remains as high as it is.

Thankfully though he's Scottish and doesn't get on with Craig Levein, because with Fletcher's injury record, the last thing we need is for him playing extra games for his country.

Put simply for now though, if Fletcher is fit he has to start and we have to fit the team around him – anyone who can score at this rate in a struggling side is worth his weight in gold.

You might not be a hero yet, Steven, but keep this up and you'll be idolised at Molineux for years to come.

Oh and the person it was who called Fletcher a hero? None other than Stephen George Bull MBE.

Not a bad example to follow.