DELROY Facey was a relieved man to have finally started a game for Wanderers on Saturday, after surviving a debilitating illness that has dogged his Wanderers career.

The 22-year-old was diagnosed with pneumonia shortly after joining the club in the summer and the effects of the illness were horrific for a player so reliant on his physical power and fitness.

Pneumonia is a serious life-threatening infection or inflammation of the lungs, which restricts oxygen to the blood.

Facey experienced severe weight loss and constant fatigue and was forced to sit out his first four months at the Reebok Stadium following a move from Huddersfield in July.

While he may have dreamt of spending August making an impact in Premiership arenas, in reality he was bed-ridden at Beaumont Hospital.

He said: "I lost weight rapidly - about two-and-a-half to three stone in the space of six weeks due to my illness. Even now I'm still a little bit under weight.

"At first I just thought I had a cough, but it wasn't going away. In the summer I was playing a friendly and all of a sudden I had no feeling in my legs and my temperature was sky high so I went to hospital for a chest X-ray and discovered it was pneumonia, and I became a bit anaemic as well.

"It was tough being in hospital because I was away from my family but they came to see me all the time.

"I had to have complete rest for six weeks because I was on a course of very powerful tablets. After that I started doing some work on an exercise bike, then I moved on to light weights and after a week of that I could begin running - I've trained really hard.

"I did not think I would be playing as soon as I am because although I had done all the pre-season training I then had to take two months off work and it has been really hard work getting back.

"To help me gain some match fitness I was offered the chance to go out on loan to Bradford just a week or so after returning to training.

"That spell really did me good because it meant I could start pushing for a first team place at Bolton. The club and staff have really supported me."

Facey showed his powers of recovery within just eight minutes of his Bantams debut when he scored against Wimbledon - adding to the 15 goals he bagged in 40 starts for Huddersfield.

He went on to appear six times for Nicky Law's team before his recall to Wanderers in time for the West Ham game just before Christmas.

He has since made three appearances from the bench before making his full debut in the cup game with Sunderland.

That was his first 90 minutes of the season, but he felt fine afterwards and now cannot wait to get a few goals on the board as he competes for a regular first team berth with fellow strikers Michael Ricketts and Henrik Pedersen.

He said: "Playing the full 90 minutes was fine, I was just really glad to get the run out. The games are coming thick and fast now, and after all the problems it's great to be back.

"It was so frustrating because it was such a massive step to move from the Second Division to the Premiership, and I was so excited.

"I looked at the strikers at the club and felt I could be a very good part of the team, but the illness just came at the wrong time.

"It became harder as well because we struggled for much of the period I was out and as a professional I wanted to be involved and score goals for my new team.

"I was sat on the sidelines thinking I could do this or that and I'm glad the manager can now call on me. Hopefully I can change things around."

Facey's attitude in coming back so soon after such a tough illness has impressed his boss, who feels the player has a lot of potential.

Allardyce said: "Delroy is now back to his normal playing weight and back to his beefy strong self. He became only a shadow of the player we had seen at Huddersfield.

"He is a hungry player and has done so well to get back. This experience will help him, he seems to appreciate his football life even more now.

"At the moment I do not want to put too much pressure on him because I still see him as a player to develop over the next few seasons."