DAVID Wheater reckons he’s playing his best football since Wanderers’ Premier League days.

The centre-back rolled back the years on Saturday with a colossal display at the heart of Phil Parkinson’s defence.

And although he could not prevent QPR from grabbing a late equaliser, denying the Whites back-to-back victories, Wheater feels he is in his best form since he sustained a serious knee injury in the top flight in 2012.

“I think playing week-in, week-out is helping,” he told The Bolton News. I’m just enjoying playing football, especially on days like that.

“Even last season when we were playing in that Checkatrade Trophy thing and going Saturday-Tuesday, I told the manager I wanted to play in both games because I felt good.

“Before I did my cruciate ligament I never used to get injured and now I feel like I’m back to that sort of fitness. It was a struggle for a couple of years and I had a few problems but now I feel just as good as I did when I was playing in the Premier League.”

Saturday was an afternoon not for the faint-hearted, as Storm Brian whipped up weather around the Macron to almost-unplayable conditions.

“I’d rather play in rain like that than sun any day of the week,” laughed Wheater. “It was ugly, wasn’t it? Our boots kept filling up with water and slipping off. But it looked good when Litts (Mark Little) went sliding in at the end.”

Wheater was not afraid to go in two-footed on the QPR website, who had run a story in the build-up to the game which highlighted his apparent weakness against pacey strikers.

“It was very disrespectful,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I got out-paced.

“Obviously if there’s a little 5ft 5ins flier they might get around me every once in a while but put me up with anyone the same height as me and I’ll beat them in a race. I don’t really understand it. If Usain Bolt came on the pitch I won’t beat him in a race for the ball but I can do more kick-ups than him, so it’s swings and roundabouts.”

Wheater was disappointed to let two points slip out of Wanderers’ grasp late on but felt encouraged by the performance.

“After the September we had, four points from two games is brilliant for us and gets us back in the mix. Hopefully we’ll soon be moving up the league table and things will look better.”