Chelsea lad in to shore up Wolves

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy has moved to plug his leaky defence with the signing of Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne on loan.

The 20-year-old centre-back has joined until December 29 and will be available for the Coca-Cola Championship clash with Swansea on Tuesday.

Despite lying second in the table, Wolves have conceded 14 goals in their last five games.

McCarthy said: "We wanted some defensive cover, because 14 in five games isn't good enough.

"Michael is a good defender and very quick. He is travelling up on Monday and could be in the squad on Tuesday but I wouldn't want to throw him in without doing some work with him first."

McCarthy has rejected suggestions the only way to win promotion from the Championship is to keep clean sheets.

His side ran out 3-2 winners over Watford at Vicarage Road at the weekend but Hornets boss Adrian Boothroyd claimed the only way to guarantee success was to keep the number of goals in the against column to a minimum.

Wolves have conceded 14 goals in their last five games and are in second place behind Birmingham, which prompted McCarthy to dismiss Boothroyd's defensive policy.

"We had 19 clean sheets last year – we were second best I think – and we finished seventh," said McCarthy, whose side host Swansea tonight.

"We conceded far less goals than West Bromwich did last season and they were the ones who went on to win the League.

"So I think scoring goals is the real thing, but then I'd like to keep a clean sheet and I'm sure Aidy would."