Bolton Wanderers' Kevin Davies and Wolverhampton Wanderers' Christophe Berra battle for the ball during the Barclays Premier League match at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy conceded that it just wasn’t his side’s day after suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat in a crunch clash with Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.

The hard-working visitors twice struck the woodwork, before Bolton’s former Villa defender Zat Knight hit what proved the winner on the stroke of half-time.

McCarthy admitted: “I’m becoming a long-playing record to say we played well and should have got something. But yes, I do think we should have had a point.

“Unfortunately playing well doesn’t always get you points. The goal we conceded wasn’t bad luck though, it was bad defending.

“We switched off just before half-time, letting them take a throw-in and then they have a chance and a corner and it ends up in the back of our net.”

Knight’s first goal of the season – and the club’s first in six league games – was enough to seal victory against Wolves and take them above their rivals in the Barclays Premier League table.

Knight made the breakthrough in first half stoppage time with a neat finish after Chung-Young Lee chased a lost cause to set up the opening.

Bolton then had claims for a penalty waved away when Ronald Zubar appeared to handle a cross from Kevin Davies.

Wolves responded but were left despondent as David Jones and Kevin Foley both saw efforts come back off the woodwork.

And Bolton boss Owen Coyle was delighted with the manner of the victory.

He said: “We all knew how big a game this was. So it was terrific to get the three points. Our performance was of a high standard as well.

“There were moments in the second half when we rode our luck. But we should have put the game to bed by that time.

“We had a stonewall penalty at the start of the second half. I felt it was ball to hand.

“But the biggest single thing today was getting that win. It elevates us out of the bottom three and it gives your confidence a great boost.

“Maybe Zat would have been the last one you would have selected to score the goal. But it was a nice finish by him after great work from Lee.”

McCarthy also felt his side should have had a penalty as well when Matt Jarvis went to ground following a challenge from Sam Ricketts, but concede that his struggling side must cut out the mistakes at the back.

“It’s a bad goal from our point of view, we’ve made mistakes.

“How do you turn it around? You have to take your chances.

“We need to tighten up and we also need to score a goal.

“I said last week that if we keep playing like that we’ll be okay.

“It still remains the same. We need a certain amount of points with 11 games left to stay in this league. Can we get those points? That remains to be seen.

“We will keep trying, keep plugging away. We are in there fighting and that gives us a chance.”

By Ken Gaunt