Wolves far from ugly

NIALL QUINN accused Mick McCarthy of winning ugly, well, kind of.

But in truth, this was anything but. A handsome victory would, in just about any other Premier League season, have secured safety as Wolves hit 40 points, two more than they needed to stay up this time last year. “I’ve just seen Niall,” McCarthy said in the wake of a first Wolves three-pointer in these parts since 1993. “I think the quote was, ‘if any one ugly bastard was going to beat us, then I’m glad it was you’.”

Having failed to orchestrate a top flight victory at the Stadium of Light in 19 attempts while in charge at Sunderland, for the former Republic of Ireland manager that winning feeling was long overdue. After his side secured back-to-back victories for the first time this season, the only downside was that even with such a healthy tally, they will go into the final game with their destiny still unresolved.

This comprehensive victory against a Sunderland side seemingly incapable of performing for more than half an hour in any given game at least ensured their fate remains firmly in their own hands. A victory at Molineux on Sunday over a Blackburn Rovers side above them only on goal difference secures a third consecutive season of top flight football. Anything else and they will require a little help from elsewhere.

Even if it proves to be against the Old Trafford stiffs, Blackpool’s visit to Manchester United already looks like a significant favour from the fixture computer. “With 40 points we’d have got into Europe last season,” McCarthy mused. “The situation makes all of us nervous, but it’s about having the calmness, the coolness and the experience to see games out the way we did.”

And how. Once Steven Fletcher easily out-jumped the abject John Mensah to head in a cross from substitute Matt Jarvis to restore the lead with the Scot’s sixth goal in eight games shortly after the restart, the result was never in doubt.

George Elokobi’s diving header from Jamie O’Hara’s free-kick provided breathing space, and a late boost to the goal difference that could yet prove crucial.

After conceding the opener to a fine first-time volley from returning old boy Jody Craddock entirely against the run of play, Sunderland failed to build on a close-range equaliser from their best player, the stand-in forward Stephane Sessegnon from a corner by Bolo Zenden, who later intimated his desire to leave in the summer due to his limited playing time this season.

Unsurprisingly after a sixth defeat in seven home games, Sunderland were jeered off.

Steve Bruce again fell back on the lame caveat of their over-populated treatment room as the reason for the dramatic slump since the turn of the year.

It was the latest set-back in the stated aim of a top 10 finish that now looks somewhat unattainable. The manager , added insult to injury by again failing to map-out how he will address a casualty list that is more than simply down to ill-luck. He chose instead to point out the woes of Sunderland’s rivals to further infuriate many in another 40,000-plus turnout who would rather see him manage his own problems rather than needlessly sling mud elsewhere.

“No one could envisage this happening to us,” he insisted. “That’s Premier League, and when I see a team like Arsenal win one out of 10, and Spurs with one win from 13, that just shows you. Without seven or eight first teamers and your back four it’s like going to war with a pop gun.”

The £55m invested in the team by Ellis Short under Bruce is rather more of an Arsenal than a pop-gun, a hefty amount from the club’s owner which will see a minimal return in terms of an improved finish in the league this season.

It’s the kind of backing of which McCarthy could only have dreamed during his rollercoaster spell in charge on Wearside, long before the club attracted the kind of vast overseas wealth boasted by Short.

McCarthy said: “I won the Championship here and got to the Premier League without a pot to piss in, or for that matter a window to throw it out of. Then the next season I was given even less to spend. I still loved it though.

“Despite that, it feels no different winning here. I have no cause to rub anyone’s nose in it, because I had a wonderful time. As for next week, I always thought it’d go down to May 22, but if we win our last game we stay up. I’ll tell you what another season in the Premier League would mean if and when I find out. There’s one thing for sure, I’d enjoy my summer a lot more.”