Wolves club captain Jody Craddock has stressed the need for players to stay upbeat if they are to triumph in the battle for Barclays Premier League survival.

Craddock and his team-mates will be looking to bounce back from a poor performance against Birmingham when they face fellow strugglers Bolton at Molineux on Saturday.

Wolves have gone eight league games without a win since triumphing at home to Fulham in mid-September and are four points adrift of safety.
But Craddock believes it is important to focus on the plus points from the campaign.

He said: "It is crucial that we all remain positive and look at the things we have achieved this season. In most games I think that we have more than held our own.

"I know that several vital decisions have gone against us and that, if the right ones had been given, we definitely would have more points than we do at present. But the important thing now is to look forward and not back.

"The lads are so young that they tend to bounce back very quickly. But young or not, they fully realise what we are up against."

Craddock, who has scored Wolves' last three goals against Stoke (2) and Arsenal, added: "We were under no illusions as to the task in hand when we started this season and we know that difficult days lie ahead.

"The big difference between the top two divisions is that in the Premier League, if you make a mistake you are more likely to be punished and that was emphasised in recent games with Arsenal and Chelsea.

"In the Premier League these days, you tend to have a mini league of elite teams at the top but there is a bunch of 10-12 teams at the other end pretty tightly packed together.

"We went into a spell of three homes games starting with Birmingham, now Bolton and then Burnley which people refer to as 'must win' games but clubs want the points as much as we do."