He turned in a man-of-the-match performance in his only start to date against Lincoln in the Carling Cup.

But Anderton, 32, also quietly impressed when given his first taste of Premiership football at Birmingham for the second half of the goalless draw with Manchester United last weekend.

Anderson told the Birmingham Evening Mail: “It was great to be back out there. I really got a buzz from the game and I feel absolutely great.

“The training I’ve done at Birmingham has been very intense, harder than I’ve ever done before, and it’s definitely benefited me.

“What’s also helped is the way the manager has gone about things. He said he’d take his time with me and make sure I was absolutely right before including me.

“That can be frustrating at times because you naturally want to be involved, but it’s definitely been the correct thing to do.

“Before, over the years, I’ve maybe come back from injury too soon. After three or four days training I’ve been thrown straight back in and been worried about whether I’d suffer a problem again.

“I guess as the season goes on, we’ll see what happens but, at the moment, I’m really enjoying myself.”