IT'S NOT often a footballer is keen to hit woodwork but having endured two years in injury hell, David Fernandez is willing to succumb to superstition and he pauses momentarily. "Wait, just to be sure, I'm going to touch wood," he says tapping the bench he is sitting on. He had been in full flow, animated and excited, talking about the turnaround in a career he had considered compromised last term, so much so in fact that he thought he may have to accept retirement earlier than anticipated. It was not a thought he was keen to countenance but with a stiff knee which limited the football fluency and trickery he is renowned for it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the demons.

But this season represents a fresh start. Pre-season went swimmingly, the knee is back to normal, and his confidence and form have been bolstered. He is a pivotal member of a Kilmarnock team which has surprised many with an assured start to the new campaign, nestling nicely amongst the clubs at the top of the league. He can therefore be forgiven his flirtation with superstition ahead of today's clash with Celtic.

"I really do feel great but I want that feeling to last. I want to get through this season injury free."

The problems began on October 29, 2006, in a match against this afternoon's opponents. A poor tackle from Gary Caldwell was the start of it, but it is the torment which followed which has left the biggest scars. Four operations were needed to not only repair the ligament damage but also to rediscover the range and the extension. One step forward too often preceded two steps back.

"There are days when you are just thinking 'what the hell, I just want to die'. I think everyone has stages in their life where everything goes wrong and you're thinking it cannot get any worse but then it does. All you can do is keep getting up every morning. It would be much easier to just stay in bed but you can't let everything hit you."

"It was hell," says the 32-year-old. "It has been the hardest two years of my life. Alex (McQueen, the Kilmarnock physio] told me it would take two years because of the number of operations and the damage to the knee and he was right. I was just about to give up but then everything started to come back."

That was about six months ago but even since those early shoots of recovery, it has taken a while to get back to the level of ease and enjoyment he is now experiencing at Kilmarnock. Bit by bit the mobility and strength in his battered knee returned, so too have the fitness levels. The rehabilitation of the mind, the confidence in his joint and his ability is also, finally, complete.

"I was waiting for the pre-season to start, to have a fresh start, to see if I would have more problems, more trouble and I didn't so I'm delighted.

"This is a very important season for me because last year was disappointing in so many ways and after the confidence shown by the gaffer and Alex, my team-mates and supporters I feel I really owe them but I am taking this season very personally. It is nothing to do with proving myself to anybody else, it is about me proving to myself that after two years in hell I can go back and play the way I used to and enjoy it.

"I did a pre-season last year but my knee was really stiff and I wasn't at the same level of fitness as the rest of the guys. But I managed to do this pre-season 100%, without any problems and my knee wasn't stiff, I didn't have to stop for anything. That was the confidence boost I needed. I felt that if I could keep running, doing the double sessions every day with no days off and with the knee responding well, then I could get through the season."

After five league matches Kilmarnock trail only the Old Firm and have the opportunity to move into second place today. Of the five league games played, Fernandez has been a key player in them all. But the merit is in the team-work, insists the Spaniard. A guy who likes to sing, dance and joke, the kind of entertainer who would have given the likes of Bruce Forsyth a run for his money at the Palladium if he had been born in previous era, he compares the well-drilled and finely tuned Kilmarnock side to a artfully choreographed troupe.

"The way we are playing is a joy. In a game we don't even need to talk sometimes, we understand each other and we know how we are expected to defend and to go forward and we all work together. When that happens, it's great. You just see your team-mates moving and it's like a dance." On early evidence, they have shunned the injuries and subsequent whipping boy status of last season and are showing some fine moves.

"Let's just say I'm happy. I'm in a new stage of my life. The main thing is everything is coming back to the way it used to be." Almost but not quite.

The infectiously cheery chappie is back but it is a mutated version. The self-deprecation, the ham dramatics ("yeah, drama queen, that's what they call me") are all there. Again the "yeah baby", mock preening and comic timings punctuate the interview but the clowning around is not all there is to Fernandez. Through the dark days he vented his frustrations through boxing, finding a way to cope without impinging too much on the happiness of those around him. It was difficult for a man who describes himself as very open and certainly comes across as unguarded.

"I always showed how I felt. I think people always knew when I was in a happy mood or not. The funny thing is that through this I have learned better how to hide my feelings."

So he says but he still can't help baring some of his soul. "Now I don't want to take anything for granted. I'm happy today but, being honest, most of all I'm relieved and I don't want to get too excited because there is always tomorrow and then the next day. You don't know what to expect, you don't know what is going to happen. I have learned that."

He has learned a lot about himself and those around him over the past two years. But most of all he has learned to make the most of the good times.