Wolves back on track

Mick McCarthy believes Wolves’ Coca-Cola Championship promotion push is back on track after his side picked up their second away win of the week yesterday.

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s fourth-minute goal earned Wolves a 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

The win kept the visitors three points clear of Birmingham at the top of the table and suggests the sticky spell they have endured since the turn of the year is over.

“I hope that’s the case,” boss McCarthy said. “The performance would suggest that and of course the results would as well. We’ve played well in the last couple of games.

“We’re top of the league, everyone’s chasing us and snapping at our heels so what words can you find to stress how important it is to win games? It’s vitally important.”

For Wednesday, it was a second narrow home defeat to a promotion contender in quick succession following the 2-1 loss to Reading on Tuesday night.

“I would say it tells us how far away we are rather than how close,” boss Brian Laws said of the results.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish was “proud” of his side after they claimed a 1-0 win over Southampton.

Keith Fahey crashed home the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time as the Blues followed-up their midweek win over Bristol City with another victory.

McLeish said: “The last four days have been excellent with the players responding to the challenge.

“I am proud of them and the back five were rock solid.”

Southampton boss Mark Wotte, who had to deal with the arrest of two of his young players, Bradley Wright-Phillips and David McGoldrick, after they had been accused of assault and affray on Friday, claimed it was not an issue.

He said: “It didn’t influence the result of the game but David was a little tired and didn’t have a good game.”

Third-placed Reading saw their promotion hopes hit by a 2-2 draw at Plymouth which left boss Steve Coppell with mixed emotions.

Plymouth led twice thanks to goals from Paul Gallagher and Jamie Mackie, but on both occasions promotion contenders Reading fought back, with Alex Pearce and Jimmy Kebe on target.

Coppell said: “I have a sense of relief and disappointment. At 2-1 down I thought this could be one of those games where despite playing a strong part in the game we were going to get nothing.

“At 2-2 I thought there was only going to be one winner.”

Plymouth boss Paul Sturrock saw his match plans affected by a first-half injury to Craig Cathcart, while Gallagher was taken off at half-time as a precaution.

He said: “All things considered with those two off, and changes needing to be made, we did very well.”

Cardiff are well-placed to challenge for automatic promotion after a 3-0 home win over Doncaster.

Michael Chopra and strike partner Jay Bothroyd netted first-half goals and substitute Eddie Johnson scored his first goal for the club in the 60th minute to seal victory.

“We showed two sides of our game today with some super football for an hour before changing slightly just to close the game down,” said Cardiff manager Dave Jones.

“We knew they were on a good run but we tinkered a little and it has worked superbly for us.”

Doncaster manager Sean O’Driscoll was far from happy saying: “That was the worst performance by the team not just for this season but last season as well.”

Yesterday’s other results saw Crystal Palace beat Preston 2-1, Blackpool record a 2-0 home win over struggling Norwich and QPR hold Sheffield United to a goalless draw at Loftus Road.

Watford claimed a 3-2 victory at basement boys Charlton, Swansea drew 1-1 at Nottingham Forest and fellow play-off hopefuls Bristol City slipped to a 2-1 defeat away to Derby.