Albion won't be allowed to party, says Wolves' Jamie O'Hara

Wolves midfielder Jamie O'Hara today kicked off the countdown to the Black Country derby by vowing Albion won't be allowed to get into party mode this Sunday.

The Baggies come to Molineux safe in all but name while Mick McCarthy's side are desperate for points to stay up.

O'Hara, who scored a superb long range goal at The Hawthorns in the 1-1 draw in February, believes Albion will try to rub Wolves' noses in it by attempting some free-flowing football.

But the on-loan Tottenham star insisted their arch rivals will soon find they are in a battle.

"I think they're going to try to 'mug us off' and try to play all the football and be saying we're going down," said O'Hara.

"But that's not going to happen. We're going to get into them and fly into tackles because it's a cup final for us — one of three we've got left.

"So we're not going to let anyone come to our ground and try to 'mug us off' playing their fancy football.

"We're going to get stuck in and we're going to get the right result."

O'Hara was involved in an angry shoving match with Birmingham midfielder Craig Gardner in Sunday's 1-1 draw and he said Wolves will continue to battle first and play later.

"There's no time to be friends on the pitch," he said. "We've got to win games and we've got to stamp our authority on matches.

"We can play once we earn the right to play, and on Sunday, we tried to get on top of them and make things happen.

"It was just disappointing not to get the three points."

O'Hara also insisted Wolves were switched on after revealing the players dipped after thinking they were already safe after beating Villa before embarking on a worrying run of two points from 15.

By TIM NASH