The critics heralded Saturday's home game with Gillingham as a 'must-win' game if Wolverhampton Wanderers were to stand any chance of promotion - and Glenn Hoddle's men failed miserably to win it.

Yet Wolves will run out at Loftus Road to play Queens Park Rangers tonight insisting they can still qualify for the Championship play-offs - and that it is a case of 'Mission Improbable' rather than 'Impossible'.

Wolves were spared total embarrassment on Saturday only by an injury-time Leon Clarke equaliser, less than 60 seconds after Gillingham had snatched what appeared to be a late winner. Despite the acknowledgment that their team's overall performance was more disappointing than the result, assistant manager Stuart Gray is adamant that Hoddle's team should not be written off yet.

He said: "I know talk is cheap and that we have to produce it. But there's still 14 games left, and 42 points left to play for.

"Maybe it is wearing thin to say we won't give up on anything until it is mathematically impossible but we won't know how we stand for another three or four more games.

"Drawing too many games has been our downfall and there's such a thin dividing line. But we knew the length of Glenn's contract from the moment he walked in and he has total respect from the players so that can't be used as an excuse.

"What happens in the future is between him and the chairman. But all I know is, right now, he's hurting because we're not winning games of football."

Whatever reasons were behind Saturday's latest under-performance - the pitch, the weather, the untimely flu bug, the absence of captain Paul Ince - Wolves are still not winning enough games.

Dave Jones managed only three in 15 league games before he was dismissed on November 1. Hoddle has suffered defeat only once in the league since taking charge on December 7 but he has enjoyed only two victories in ten matches.

Only in Gray's five-week interregnum did Wolves look like achievers, winning three times in seven matches. Two defeats can almost be struck from the record, due to the thankless tasks he was twice handed by the Wolves board.

First, when they dismissed their manager on the morning that Gray's distracted squad was due to travel to play at Sunderland ( result: 3- 1 defeat). Then the decision to appoint a successor on the day of a match (result: 2-1 defeat at home to Millwall).

Despite Hoddle's claim that he has the most consistent side in the division after drawing ten matches, what Wolves are suffering from most is chronic inconsistency, especially when one considers just how well they played to beat QPR 2-1 at Molineux in October.

Gray said: "The be all and end all is that we underachieved on Saturday. Far too many players didn't perform and, most disappointingly, far too many players didn't take responsibility.

"You can afford to carry two or three but there were more like five or six who didn't produce.

"We missed Paul Ince's experience and leadership qualities. He can pull the strings and be an extension of the manager's arm but people should still be taking responsibility without him.

"With the pitch like it is, they're trying too hard to score the perfect goal, and we've ended up not working the keeper enough. The fans expect us to walk all over Gillingham but it doesn't work like that. The Brightons, Crewes and Gillinghams clearly get a big lift from coming here.

"The fans want to see passion and commitment but they mostly want to see goalmouth action and, only when Leon Clarke, with his strength and pace, was able to use the space and get in behind, did it give the crowd a lift. His performance warrants a start as what we do in the final third is letting us down."