McCarthy won’t look at table

Boss Mick McCarthy watched his team move to within two points of the Coca-Cola Championship top six - before insisting he is still not looking at the table.

Wolves secured a crucial 1-0 win over lowly Colchester courtesy of a smart finish from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to make it two wins out of two since the Cardiff debacle.

But despite things looking much brighter for his under-fire Wolves side, McCarthy is sticking to his pledge not to read too much into the league table until May.

“I haven’t looked at the table for about three weeks,” he insisted.

“Let’s see where we finish in May - this is just another three points. But it’s obviously an important three points to get when the number of games left are ebbing away.

“We’ve had two good results since the Cup game and things are looking a lot better.”

Lowly Colchester only threatened in sporadic spells but they did push Wolves all the way on a difficult Layer Road surface.

McCarthy insisted his side’s achievement should not be under-played just because Colchester are in trouble.

“It was a lively pitch and a tough match because they are fighting for their lives - but we always knew it would be,” he said.

“Every team in the Championship makes it difficult - there are no easy games and Colchester is no different.”

Wolves coped with the loss of Jody Craddock to an ankle injury after just half an hour, with McCarthy reserving special praise for his replacement Neill Collins.

He also had words of encouragement for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who was a match winner in the lone striker’s role.

“Neill has been spot on this season. And Sylvan was excellent too. It can be a thankless task up front on your own.

“We played 4-3-3 at Cardiff and got our backsides slapped because we were 2-0 down in 10 minutes. The tactics were rubbish then but they’re all right now.”