Matt Doherty's doubts are thing of the past at Wolves

Doherty, 27, is currently away with Ireland and has enjoyed a stunning season so far for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

The club’s longest-serving current player has made 36 appearances, scoring six goals along the way, and even been awarded a new contract until 2023.

And he said: “It’s the best season of my career stats-wise, and because of the league I’m in.

“People think the step-up is not that big, but from doing it I can say it really is that big.

“So the fact I’ve been able to adapt and a have a higher standard of performance from the Championship to the Premier League, I’m very happy with how things have gone so far.”

Doherty first really made his mark at Wolves during their League One-winning 2013/14 campaign, and then kicked on another gear when Nuno arrived at the start of last term, which ended in Championship glory.

But he admits he struggled to adapt to the demands of the top flight at first.

“I didn’t start the season that well. I had a few performances that weren’t great, and I scored an own goal against Leicester and when you do that you start to think about things and question yourself,” said Doherty.

“Your confidence isn’t the highest. You go through little periods where you’re half-thinking ‘I can’t play here’ – that’s how bad it can get at times. It’s happened loads of times. But you just get through it.

“You’re just thinking ‘this is sharp’. You get the ball and someone is on you straight away. But it’s like anything, once you get used to it you start to get better.

“Then we played West Ham away and won 1-0 right at the end, and I played well. “It was the West Ham game where something switched – I just played welland that gave me the confidence to say ‘Yes, I’m able to do this’.

“From then on I didn’t really look back. I had the confidence, I knew I was able to play at this level. And I just took that forward.”

He added: “I was fortunate that I got the time to prove myself. So far I’ve managed to do that, and I’ve played most games.”