Weekend hero Kevin Phillips has an extra spring in his step this morning after his double strike sealed victory for Blues in their Birmingham-Black Country derby at St. Andrew's.

The experienced striker may be approaching his 37th birthday this year but he showed that he'd lost none of the predatory instinct as he pounced with two opportunist goals to slay Wolves.

Super Kev, as he is known throughout football, has only started one Barclays Premier League game this season and his minutes on the pitch during limited appearances from the bench amounts to the equivalent of playing just one full match.

He admitted that being a regular unused substitute had left him feeling a little down. But the two goals in five sensational late minutes yesterday put the smile back on his face and had got him 'excited' for the remainder of the campaign.

Phillips said: "I think I've showed that I can still do it. It was only last year that I was knocking goals in for fun. Obviously people forget about you when you're not playing week in and week out but I believe, as I did at the start of this season, that I can still do a job in this league.

"Yes, I'm well behind on my match fitness because I haven't played but I'd like to think that I may get a good run in the team from now until the end of the season as the manager hasn't brought in another striker. I haven't done myself any harm today. They were just two opportunist strikes.

"I don't think I had anything to prove to other people, just to myself. I've been scoring goals in training but can I do it on a matchday? I think I've shown to myself that I can still do it

"It has given me that little boost - that little bit of hunger again for that fact that I can still score a goal. I'm excited now for the rest of the season."

Phillips confessed that his brilliant brace came despite the fact that he was far from fully fit.

He explained: "I've been out with a slight groin injury in the last couple of weeks and, to be fair, I've still got a little bit of a strain but it's one of those I've just got to try and get on with.

"I'd only trained for two days at the end of last week. I've got to admit that I didn't feel 100 per cent which I think is acceptable. I'm probably playing at 70 per cent because I haven't played any games. I haven't played a full match all season."

The former West Brom hot shot also revealed that boss Alex McLeish had given him a pep talk in the build-up to the game that had also provided him a boost after his weeks of inactivity.

He said: "In football you soon get forgotten about when you're not playing and credit to the manager, he pulled me to one side when the window had shut and said 'listen, I've stated in the press that I was offered some players late on in the window, big names that were perhaps coming to the end of their career'. And he felt that they weren't going to bring anything to the club that wasn't already here, i.e. myself.

"That gave me a little bit of a boost to be honest and he told me that I was going to get more game time from now until the end of the season.

"I was just delighted to get on the pitch. I've been frustrated that I've not been getting on in games. When I have got on I've only had five minutes and you can't do anything in that time. Especially at my age, it takes me ten or 15 minutes to get used to the pace of the game.

"All I was asking for was at least half an hour and I've shown that give me half an hour and that's what I can do. I'm not saying that I'm going to do that every game but I'm hoping that I'm pushing for a start now."

Phillips also divulged that there had been interest from other clubs in acquiring his services during the January transfer window but the locality of those sides had made it an easy decision to turn them down.

"I could have moved on. I turned a couple of teams down but they were teams that I would have had to up sticks and moved. I said at the end of last season that I don't want to move," he said.

"I just felt that even if we had brought another forward in that would have only given us four centre forwards and I still believed that I'd get my chance. Now I'm going to be knocking on the manager's door for another year!"

The former England international's current deal at St. Andrew's expires at the end of this season but he is keen to prolong his career for at least another 12 months.

When asked about when he intended to retire from the game, Phillips admitted: "It's not too far around the corner but I'm definitely going to have another season next year without a doubt. It's the old cliché but I've just got to take each season as it comes.

"I'll see how I feel next year. I've got to admit that I was feeling a little bit down this year. I've been lucky, wherever I've been in my career I've played the majority of games and I've found it difficult sitting on the bench week in and week out, even though we are in the Premier League.

"We've been winning games but not scoring too many goals and ultimately centre forwards are judged on scoring goals. I'm not going to argue, at my age I'm just delighted to still be in the Premier League.

"I've given the manager something to think about and we'll just see what happens during the week."