Wolves manager Mick McCarthy insists he is still targeting a place in the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs after his side kept themselves in the hunt with a well-deserved 1-0 victory over Ipswich.
Ipswich had more of the possession but have now gone five successive games without a goal and Wolves’ greater finesse shone through, with Seyi Olofinjana commanding the midfield.
The winning goal came in the 33rd minute when Andy Keogh put David Wright under pressure on the left flank. Wright’s back pass was intercepted by Stephen Ward who beat the stranded goalkeeper Lewis Price with a low-shot from the narrowest of angles.
Wolves could have added a second in the 52nd minute when Michael Kightly was left with only Price to beat, but the Ipswich keeper brought off a splendid save.
McCarthy said: “Just recently my team has been picking itself. The fundamental thing is that we must continue to win our games to keep us in with a chance of making the play-offs.
“I think we deserved to win and our goal was well taken. Ipswich had a really good spell after we scored but, although our goalkeeper had several stops to shot he was not forced to make a save of the quality of the one that Lewis Price made from Kightly.
“We had some good spells but we also had some pretty poor spells when we gave the ball away and caused problems to ourselves.”
Wolves have earned a reputation for 1-0 victories on the road, winning their previous two away games by the same score.
McCarthy was pleased to add to that record and hailed his side’s defensive efforts.
“Defending is part of the game and goalkeeping is part of the game. It hurts like hell not to pick Gary Breen but our two lads in central defence have been different class and deserve to hold their place.”
