Murray backed for England call

Matt Murray's outstanding form for Wolves this season triggered fresh calls for his return to England duty this weekend. Murray, the 25-year-old former England Under 21 keeper, earned rave reviews at Oakwell with another string of brilliant saves which could not prevent Wolves slipping to a 1-0 defeat.

But Barnsley boss Andy Ritchie became the latest opposition manager to be left in awe at Murray's goalkeeping talents.

"Surely England have got to be looking at this lad - get him in the side is what I say," said Ritchie. "I must admit I haven't seen too much of him and I understand that he has had a lot of injury problems.

"But I thought he was absolutely outstanding. But for his saves, we would have had the game finished by half-time.He was brilliant. The two stops he made from the headers by Paul Hayes and Marc Richards were right out of the top drawer.

"How big is he? Six foot five, six foot six? To have that agility for a keeper of that stature is something special.

"I'll be very surprised if England aren't watching him soon. If not, they should be." Those comments followed on from similar high praise by Plymouth's Ian Holloway and Derby boss Billy Davies after previous Murray heroics.

The Wolves keeper was being fast-tracked towards the England squad in 2003 only to aggravate an injury while playing for the Under 21s during the first week of his club's Premiership campaign.

That began a long struggle for fitness which included an abortive comeback in January 2005 when he suffered a second foot fracture.

His problems effectively put his career on hold until this season which began with Murray targeting only a consecutive sequence of first team appearances.

But the football grapevine is now buzzing with news of his form again at a time when Tottenham's Paul Robinson has the No.1 spot sewn up - but the back-up positions remain open to challenge.

Manager Mick McCarthy said: "To call him a good prospect is probably doing him a disservice."

On-loan Wolves striker Tomasz Frankowski scored on his home debut for Tenerife as they beat Hercules 3-2 in the Spanish second division.

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