Wanderers star Kevin Nolan was lucky to escape with his life when his car careered out of control in a dramatic motorway crash.

Nolan was driving to meet his team mates before the Premiership clash with Southampton on Saturday when the incident happened.

The 19-year-old midfielder's car was wrecked in torrential rain and hail on the M62 but he scrambled out of the wreckage unscathed -- and hours later played in the goal-less draw on the south coast.

But today he admitted: "I'm lucky because the road was so quiet at the time. I've written my car off but I came out of it unscathed -- not even a bruise."

He added: "I suppose I can smile about it now but it was a scary experience."

The accident happened when the soccer star was driving his BMW 318 along the M62 on Saturday morning from his Merseyside home to Warton, near Preston, to catch the Wanderers' charter flight to Southampton.

His car swerved out of control in the icy conditions, hit the central reservation then careered across the three-lane carriageway before coming to a stop on the hard shoulder.

"The weather was really bad and I hit some slush," he said. "I braked, hit the central reservation and started spinning ... I managed to get to the hard shoulder but was lucky there were no lorries or cars coming behind."

But Nolan refused to let the drama affect his focus on the game or his performance. He was picked up by Wanderers' boss Sam Allardyce, caught the flight and seven hours later played the full 90 minutes of the scoreless draw at the new St Mary's Stadium.

"It was eight o'clock and we were meeting at half-past," he added. "It really shook me up but I wasn't bothered about the car just about myself. I got out and thought 'Okay, I've smashed my car, I've written it off. That's it. Now I'm going to the game.'

"I was happy with my performance on the field. I did the job the Gaffer asked me to do but was just disappointed to only get one point and not all three.

"As for the car now -- luckily I already had a new one on order."