Wolves players apologies for poor performance

Ricketts insisted the players are hurting as much as the supporters after Kenny Jackett's side suffered their first defeat of the season in the 1-0 setback.

But the skipper stressed the need to keep things in perspective after Jackett's young guns lost their first game in seven. "We're hurting just as much as they are – we wanted the bragging rights just as much as the fans and we apologise to them because they're not going to have that today when they went back to work," said Ricketts.

"It's a blow because you never want to get beat.

"But teams do lose games over the course of the season and to lose one in seven is still a fantastic start."

The Wales international urged the Molineux masses to look at the season as a whole, with Wolves third in League One with 16 points out of a possible 21, although Leyton Orient maintained their 100 per cent with a 5-1 win over Notts County to go five points clear.

"Let's look at the bigger picture – we'll keep striving and keep pushing for our ultimate goal, which is promotion this season," said the defender.

"Five wins, a draw and a defeat, we'd take that ratio over the course of the season."

Wolves played badly and won 3-2 against Swindon on Saturday, but Ricketts believes they suffered a bad night at the office against the Saddlers.

"We've come through the other games and won but last night it didn't go our way," he said.

"There have been some tight games here and we've showed a will to win.

"It wasn't through a lack of effort – people could see everyone gave everything they could and we always will do to try to win the game. But it just didn't happen against Walsall."

Ricketts picked out one positive factor – Wolves were stronger at the back than they were against Swindon.

"Defensively we were much more solid than against Swindon," he added.

"We restricted them to one or two chances, although they had a few opportunities late on with the free-kick that hit the post when we were chasing the game."