KEVIN KEEGAN will be looking for another smooth transition through the gears tonight as the Blues meet Wolves in their fourth pre-season contest.

Draws at Bury and Doncaster were followed by an impressive four-goal victory at Hull and the manager has every reason to feel his plans are beginning to bear fruit.

Injured pair Nicolas Anelka (foot) and Trevor Sinclair (knee) will both be missing again at Molineux and Robbie Fowler will be rested after sparkling on Wednesday night.

However, Steve McManaman, who missed the midweek romp because of a family commitment, could be back along with Danny Mills.

Costa Rican World Cup star Paulo Wanchope is also set to return after being given Wednesday off to work on his fitness.

"We have had three games in six days and we are gradually stepping things up.

Dominance

"We have tried to get the programme right so players can play properly and show what they are about," reflected Keegan whose side failed to beat relegated Wanderers in either of their Premiership encounters last season.

"The confidence is being built up and that was the case the other night at Hull when Claudio Reyna and Paul Bosvelt in the centre set the standard and Ben Thatcher had a good first game.

"Now I will be looking for more of the same tonight, at Reading on Monday and then against Lazio at Eastlands."

At Hull, Keegan stuck to his game plan of playing fewer of his youngsters but such was the Blues dominance that he was able to feed some of them in during the second half.

That was particularly good news for Irish teenager Willo Flood who caught the manager's eye while deputising for Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"The youngsters looked very impressive at Hull on Wednesday night.

"I was looking to be able to put young players into a good situation so that they could show what they are about and I thought Willo showed some really outstanding qualities," said Keegan.

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