Ex-boss Jones can turn up heat

Ex-Wolves boss Dave Jones today tightened the mounting pressure at Molineux as he prepares his promotion dark horses for Sunday's vital clash.

Jones's Cardiff City are 12 points behind his former club in fifth place - but crucially have four games in hand and a recent League form moving in the opposite direction to McCarthy's wobbling table leaders.

While Wolves have run into a wall with just one win in nine games, Jones's men have got the front-runners looking over their shoulders thanks to an 11-match unbeaten run.

To add spice to Sunday's key showdown, Jones will have ex-Wolves men Mark Kennedy, Gabor Gyepes and Jay Bothroyd in his squad.

And the man who eventually led Wolves into the Premier League in 2003 admits he is far from surprised that the flak is flying at an increasingly anxious Molineux.

"Why should I be surprised? It's the same for everyone," says Jones.

"Mick has done a superb job to get them where they are and I for one would rather be in their position.

"But you get nervous and twitchy as you get closer to the finish. The hardest thing is getting over that finishing line.

"The pressure is on Mick and his players now because they have been up there for a long time and we're all snapping at their heels. You can feel that."

Jones also believes the automatic promotion places are still up for grabs and that they are not just between the current top three of Wolves, Birmingham and Reading.

Dusted

"I was never convinced when people were saying a while back that the top two would come out the three at the top - there was too much football to be played.

"I still don't think that will happen. Everyone thought it was done and dusted but it is not, not by a long stretch." Jones, who still takes great pride in being the sole architect of a Wolves Premier League promotion, concedes his continued hurt at the final months of his Molineux reign.

It proved an eventful time at the club as Wolves gained promotion through the play-offs in 2003 a year after blowing a double-digit lead for an automatic place which was taken instead by Albion.

And it is the lingering pain from that infamous "blow-up" which many believe is fueling some of the criticism now coming the way of McCarthy's team, despite the fact that they remain three points clear at the top.

"Of course I still think about 2002 but I will always feel that it was as much an Albion triumph as it was a failure by Wolves," he says.

By Martin Swain