Mick McCarthy hailed Wolves' 3-1 victory over relegation rivals West Ham as "vital" to their Premier League survival bid.

Kevin Doyle set Wolves on their way before Ronald Zubar and Matthew Jarvis struck inside three second-half minutes to lift Mick McCarthy's side seven points clear of the drop zone.

Guillermo Franco came off the bench to score in injury time for West Ham but it was the hollowest of consolation goals. Wolves had deserved their victory.

McCarthy said: "We have not sewn anything up yet but we have gone a long way towards helping out. The scoreline didn't flatter us. We played very well tonight and deserved that victory. I don't think anyone could disagree with that.

"It was a vital win for us in terms of us concertinaed the league above us a little bit more and doing damage to West Ham.

"Burnley and Hull were thinking, 'We were going to catch Wolves'. They might just be thinking, 'We might catch Wigan and West Ham now.

"They might be looking at us and thinking 'They have done real damage to us, there are not as many we can catch any more'.

"I hope that is what they are thinking."

West Ham crumbled after Doyle pounced on a defensive howler from James Tomkins and Wolves fed off the growing dissatisfaction in the crowd.

"We didn't expect to come here and win 3-1 and be as comfortable as we were at times," said McCarthy.

"If it had been at Wolves and we conceded it would have been similar, we would have had a nervy crowd on our backs. It is the same wherever you go and we knew that and we played on it, of course we did."

Wolves have had a terrific run of away form, following up their win at Burnley by drawing at Aston Villa and now winning in a run of three successive games away from Molineux.

Striker Doyle was asked what the team need to survive.

"Another couple of wins," he said. "But from Burnley away to today has made a big difference and has really put a but of daylight between us and the rest."

He slotted home the opening goal but claims it was Zubar's strike which really stunned West Ham.

"The second one at the start of the second half really killed them off," said Doyle. "It was nice to get three goals, we haven't scored too many this season."