Old Gold gains currency again

Sheffield United 0

The veteran defender admitted that he will assess his options before deciding if he will play on for another season.

“I am going to go away and have a think about it,” the Corkman admitted in the aftermath of the thriller at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

“I will talk to my family but it was hard enough out there today,” the former Manchester United star said.

The Wolves victory had a strong Irish influence as Irwin was joined on the side by Mark Kennedy and Paul Butler.

Kennedy opened the scoring after six minutes before Nathan Blake and Kenny Miller completed the rout.

United were caught flat and cold by the men in gold and black, who can now look forward to a £25million pay-day when they play in the Barclaycard Premiership next season.

Jubilant Wolves boss Dave Jones praised his players for answering their critics as the Molineux club finally ended 19 years of hurt.

“We were magnificent. We have said all along that if we were going to do it then we would be going to have to work our socks off, so I’m very proud of my players because that is exactly what they did after coming in for a lot of criticism.”

Kennedy fired Wolves into a sixth-minute lead, with Blake doubling the advantage midway through the half, prior to Miller ultimately killing off the Blades on the stroke of half-time.

When Wolves goalkeeper Matt Murray saved a Michael Brown penalty three minutes after the restart, with it went all hope of the kind of United comeback witnessed on many occasions in league and cup this season.

United’s failure, harsh after losing out in the semi-finals of the FA and Worthington Cups, proved a bitter pill for Blades boss Neil Warnock to swallow.

But a resilient Warnock is hopeful he can do with United what Jones has done with Wolves this season, as he said: “We’ve got to lick our wounds, regroup and try and do a Wolves.

“They were in the play-offs last year, yet they were back this year. It’s not going to be easy because we will be facing some big teams next season like West Ham and Sunderland.

“If we are fortunate to keep the squad together, or as much of it as we can, and if I can pull one or two more rabbits out of the hat with Bosmans then we we’ve got a chance.

“We’ve had some great days this year and we want some more next year, but we’ve got to do it the hard way again. But I cannot fault my lads this season. For 99% of it they’ve played well.”

But Warnock blotted his copybook by being sent to the stands for the second half after verbally abusing referee Steve Bennett after the half-time whistle.

SHEFF UTD: Kenny, Kozluk, Curtis, Page, Jagielka, Tonge, Brown, Rankine (McCall 45), Ndlovu (Peschisolido 64), Kabba, Asaba (Allison 74).

WOLVERHAMPTON: Murray, Naylor, Lescott, Butler, Irwin, Newton, Cameron, Kennedy, Ince, Blake (Proudlock 88), Miller (Sturridge 75).