CRAIG Noone never lost faith Wanderers would escape relegation last season – and he is showing the same belief he can show his best form for the club next time around.

The Liverpudlian endured a frustrating first season at the Macron following his switch from now-promoted Cardiff City.

But, with his only goal of the campaign, he did net what turned out to be a vital goal, as it earned a 2-2 draw at Barnsley who finished two points below Bolton and slipped into League One.

“I did say after the Barnsley game I had an instinct we’d stay up,” he told The Bolton News. “I just never thought it would be that close though.

“Even during the game at Barnsley when we went 1-0 down I was saying to Alfie (the game’s fellow goalscorer Adam Le Fondre) ‘we can definitely do this, if we get one goal we can get another’.

“And I had the same feeling against Forest when we were 2-1 down. Then Wheats (David Wheater) scored to make it 2-2 and I knew we could get one more – for Albie (Aaron Wilbraham) to score the winner was fantastic – I didn’t know what to do with myself when his goal went in.

“It was a surreal moment, I was running after him but he got away from me, he showed a good turn of pace that day!”

Contracted for another year, Noone is desperate to prove his worth to Phil Parkinson and the Macron faithful during that time.

And that means keeping in trim this summer to prepare for the bane of any footballer’s life – pre-season training.

“I didn’t really get a pre-season under my belt last time and there’s a knock-on effect so I didn’t feature as much as I’d like and I felt I was a bit sluggish when I did come in,” he said.

“I don’t mind pre-season, to be honest, it’s never nice doing the work but once it’s done you feel better for it and it’s all working towards a goal, which is to be ready for that first game. All the work yo do in pre-season is worth it then and you don’t feel the effects of the game as much as you get towards Christmas.

“It’s hard when you’re in and out of the team, it’s difficult to get any consistency in your play. I want to show the manager what I can do and hopefully prove I should be playing week in, week out.

“I’m looking forward to showing there is more to come from me because I’ll always give my all.”