New McCarthy woe as Wolves injury gloom grows

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy refused to blame injuries after his depleted side crashed 3-0 at Blackburn Rovers.

McCarthy was without eight players on Saturday, five of them central midfielders, and Michael Mancienne was forced off just after half-time and was being assessed today with a leg problem.

One of the casualties, David Jones, has now been sent to hospital because of an infected foot.

But it was more woeful defending that briefly sent McCarthy's patched-up team to the foot of the Premier League table before West Ham's 1-0 defeat at Sunderland yesterday kept Wolves off the bottom on goals scored.

"It would appear the injury situation is getting worse before it gets better," said McCarthy.

"But I've never bemoaned an injury list and I'm not going to start now.

"With the team we had out we started really well and up until the corner (from which Blackburn scored) we'd had a really good first 25 minutes.

"No matter what team we put on the pitch we shouldn't concede that first goal the way we did. There's no bigger realist than myself but I'm not going to be making excuses for the goals."

Wolves hit the woodwork three times in the first five minutes only to concede three goals in 26 minutes, two of them setpieces.

McCarthy stressed: "We had a bad day defending, that's for sure."

Wolves have not kept a clean sheet in 22 matches but McCarthy pledged to keep working with the players to get it right.

"We've just got to keep going and working at it

"The players give us absolutely everything and I take pride in that."