Mellor is bouncing back off the canvas

The painting may take pride of place in the Mellor household one day, but the Preston striker is determined that it does not become a reminder of a career that promised so much and, as yet, has produced so little.

'It's a big old thing, you certainly wouldn't miss it,' said Mellor, who is preparing for Tuesday's match at home to Championship leaders Stoke. 'It was a great moment but I want to create another for myself, I don't want that to be it.'

Mellor blazed a scoring trail through Liverpool's youth team and announced his arrival on the senior stage with a stunning late winner past Jens Lehmann four years ago.

By then his knees were beginning to fail him. Medication and injections could mask the pain caused by tendinitis but not the fact he needed surgery on both joints at the age of 22.

So began a three-year battle that cost him his future at Anfield — and almost his career.

'I felt as though my dream was being taken away,' said Mellor, whose father Ian played for Manchester City. 'I'd always wanted to be a footballer, whether it was in the Premier League or the Conference. I did well in my youth team days at Liverpool, but I've never fulfilled my potential.

'It was really upsetting and my family have stuck by me, and my dad being a footballer was really important. He gave me the belief to carry on.'

Even so, it was tough when more knee problems surfaced in a loan spell at Wigan.

'I was 23 and couldn't even jump off the floor,' said Mellor. 'It was so frustrating. I've got belief in my own ability and I wasn't prepared to see it wasted. I got called lazy at Wigan. I wanted to make a run somewhere but physically I couldn't. It hurt me and people couldn't understand it.'

He left Liverpool after seven years and joined Preston where the return to form has been steady but slow. An hour-long regime of exercises he must follow before every match and training session for the rest of his career has been his salvation, but the inspiration comes from 15-month-old daughter Nicole.

'I'm knuckling down and doing it for my little girl,' said Mellor, who will marry Rebecca this summer. 'Now I've got her I'm dedicated to my life as a footballer. The exercises are something I have to do. If not, I'd probably have finished.'

Mellor is now 25 and feels fully fit for the first time in three years and ready to relaunch a career that has hardly been blessed with good luck.

A winning League Cup semi-finalist on three occasions with Liverpool and Wigan, Mellor has never appeared in a final.

After pointing Liverpool towards the knockout stages of the Champions League in 2005 by coming off the bench to score and setting up a goal for Steven Gerrard against Olympiacos, the decision to have knee surgery meant he missed out on the latter stages and a winner's medal when Liverpool beat AC Milan in an unforgettable final.

'I've always been told never to regret anything but it would have been nice to have played a part,' he said. 'I didn't get a medal but a couple of the Milan players left theirs on the podium so it was still good to get one of those!'

He is Preston's joint top scorer with five goals despite starting most games on the bench and finds himself in a relegation battle. At least he can look forward instead of back.

He said: 'Scoring against Arsenal was a great moment but if I could get a tap-in to win the Play-off Final for Preston, hopefully people will remember me for that as well.'