Wolves midfielder Stephen Ward will miss the final two games of the season after undergoing an exploratory knee operation.

Ward had surgery in September but has been feeling some discomfort in the same area of his knee in recent weeks.

It means he is now unlikely to join up with a Republic of Ireland training camp in Dublin next month after receiving the first call-up from his country.

Ward had made his first start since mid-March against Blackburn last weekend and set up the goal for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake which secured a 1-1 draw and Barclays Premier League survival.

He will miss the trip to Portsmouth on Saturday and the final match at home to Sunderland.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy said: “Wardy has had an operation. It’s something that needed to be done as he’s been struggling with the problem for a while.”

Ward added: “This has been troubling me all season and has got to be done.

“There was talk about maybe delaying the operation so I could join up with Ireland, but the specialist said to carry on could make it worse.

“I’ve also got to be back for pre-season and so the extra couple of weeks before the end of the season will help.

“It’s disappointing not to be joining up with Ireland. There’s no point risking any further damage. The swelling’s still quite bad so they need to go in and clean it up.”