• 24-year-old has not played since November 2009
• Mick McCarthy ready to send Kightly out on loan

Michael Kightly has been left out of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 25-man squad for the first half of the season after suffering a setback in his recovery from knee problems.

The 24-year-old winger has not played since November 2009 because of a patella tendon injury and is now likely to go out on loan once he is fit.

The Wolves manager, Mick McCarthy, told the club’s website: “We’re just going to let Kights get on with it. He’s still not quite ready to come back and there’s no pressure on him – it will take as long as it takes. There’s no time limit on it either. When he is fit, he won’t have played since last November and it would be very difficult in that situation to go straight back into the Premier League.

“So, when he is ready, we’ll be able to discuss with him the possibility of going out on loan, which he can do before we have the chance to revise the squad in January.”

Stephen Hunt, who is recovering from foot surgery, has been included along with new recruit Marcus Bent, a loan signing from Birmingham City yesterday. The 32-year-old will be playing for a 14th professional club, and he believes he can still make an impact in the Premier League.

“Once you stop believing in yourself you might as well hang up your boots,” Bent said. “As a footballer, you try and push yourself every day to achieve more and more. I’ll never stop learning. I might be one of the older members of the squad here but I can still get better. I am sure the boys will teach me some stuff and hopefully I can teach them some stuff.”

As well as his named 25, McCarthy will also be able to draw on his development squad, with youngsters Geoffrey Bia Mujangi, Danny Batth, Sam Winnall and Ashley Hemmings all pushing for inclusion.

McCarthy added: “I am delighted with the squad I’ve got at my disposal. Now we’ve got the 25 sorted and we can crack on without any interruptions until January. And there are a lot of lads waiting in the wings who are ready to take their chance if they are called upon.”

Wolves’ 25-man squad

Marcus Hahnemann, Wayne Hennessey, Carl Ikeme, Kevin Foley, Ronald Zubar, Richard Stearman, Jody Craddock, Christophe Berra, Steven Mouyokolo, George Elokobi, Stephen Ward, Jelle Van Damme, Karl Henry, David Jones, Michael Mancienne (on loan from Chelsea), Dave Edwards, Greg Halford, Nenad Milijas, Adlene Guedioura, Matt Jarvis, Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle, Steven Fletcher, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Marcus Bent (on loan from Birmingham)

Wolverhampton WanderersPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk

Two teams staffed for the most part with yeoman Englishmen produced a blood-and-guts scrap that was a throwback to the sepia-tinted days when both clubs were in their pomp. There were 12 bookings, and some reports made it sound like armageddon, but that was more over the top than any of the tackles.

Significantly, neither manager had any complaints, nor did any of the combatants, bar one. Joey Barton is often at odds with the world, and Saturday was no exception. More interesting to dwell on than the physical aspect of the contest was the contribution of Newcastle’s latest No9, Andy Carroll, who is following in famous footsteps and making a promising fist of it. Carroll scored with a towering header of which Alan Shearer would have been proud [he indicated as much on Match of the Day], and was acclaimed on both sides as an England centre-forward of the not-too-distant future. Karl Henry’s comments on the subject were typical.

The Wolves captain said: “Newcastle are a good side, and Carroll especially. I watched the Man United game where he seemed to bully [Nemanja] Vidic every time he was near him. He gave us as tough a time as any striker has, and if he keeps playing like this I don’t think it will be long before he’s doing it for England.”

Newcastle made the more cohesive start but Kevin Nolan, a midfielder filling in as Carroll’s partner, failed to take a couple of chances in the role Chris Hughton envisages for Robbie Keane. The manager said there was no update on his attempt to sign Keane from Tottenham.

Reprieved, Wolves clawed their way into it, with Henry bruisingly influential in midfield, and took the lead with a smart finish from the renascent Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. The former England Under-21s striker was prolific at Championship level, with Plymouth as well as Wolves, but hit a brick wall on his arrival in the Premier League last season, when he managed only two goals in 23 appearances.

He has equalled that return already this time and looked the part on Saturday, when he might have had a second with a close-range header that shivered a post. Goals apart, the match was notable chiefly for the battering taken by Barton, whose suspect temperament was tested at every opportunity by Henry and company. Had he been singled out for special treatment? Mick McCarthy would not admit as much, but it was an unmistakable impression.Henry said: “If you’re talking about Barton, he seems to think he’s a bit of a player who puts his foot in, but I certainly didn’t see any of that from him, not on the ball, not when the ball was there to be won. That’s a big part of my game, I love getting stuck in, I enjoy those games, it was a big battle in there, I look forward to them.

”I knew with [Alan] Smith and Barton it was going to be a physical battle, and we were certainly up for it as much as they were. I spoke to Smith a few times during the game. I’ve got a lot of time for him, he was saying: ‘Well done, good battle.’ He loves a tackle. He loves getting tackled as much as he tackles. I’m very much the same.” Barton was different. “He was moaning in the ref’s ear all the time and not happy about getting put to the floor. There was a lot of talk, a lot of moaning. Not a lot to back it up, though. His bark is worse than his bite. We’ll have more of the same when we go up to their place.”

Man of the match: Andy Carroll (Newcastle United)

Premier LeagueWolverhampton WanderersNewcastle UnitedJoe Lovejoyguardian.co.uk