Wolves have a squad that Steve Cotterill can only be envious of in terms of numbers but his counterpart Dave Jones was almost Craig Brown like in his whinging regarding the number of injuries his side currently have.
Jones started off discussing the injuries. “Joleon Lescott was nowhere near in contention for a place in the starting line up but Lee Naylor failed a late fitness test and Kevin Cooper was throwing up all night.
“I asked Jo if he felt ready and all credit to him, he said yes. He won’t play on Monday but we just have to hope that Naylor will have recovered from his back problem. We are also concerned about Mark Clyde who has a calf strain and Kenny Miller is suffering from the same.
“As long as we’ve got eleven players we will put out a team at
Having revealed that he was almost forced to play goalkeeper Michael Oakes at full back (this despite having a full bench with four outfield players) he finally spoke about the match.
“It sticks out like a sore thumb that we can’t keep the ball but we are asking kids to lead the line for us. We were in charge after we scored but then it was as though we went colour blind and kept passing the ball to the opposition.”
Jones had words for referee Colin Webster and in particular that early incident that saw Mo Camara yellow carded.
“Mo head-butted Shaun Newton but the referee and linesman just booked him for aggressive behaviour,” Jones complained. “It is the same punishment as you get for taking your shirt off and celebrating a goal.
“I’ve got a lot of time for Mo Mo but he knows he was lucky to stay on the pitch. It needed a big brave decision but the referee got that and the penalty appeal wrong.”
After Jones had done nothing other than feel sorry for himself Steve Cotterill spoke about the match and how well his players had done.
“I was really pleased with that performance,” he said. “We have been excellent, have played some great football and worked our socks off.
“We just didn’t get the breaks we deserved though and maybe now we will win a game we don’t deserve to win somewhere down the line on the back of this game.
Having played our best football since he took over Cotterill added, “I thought we put in a good performance for ninety minutes today against a very good side with good players. They have a lot of injuries but they still had some very good players out there and have a good manager and coaches.
“I am really proud of the lads today though and there were some disappointed faces in the dressing room which says it all. I felt for the players because they deserved three points.”
He ended by talking about Robbie Blake’s first goal of the season. “Robbie Blake is Robbie Blake and he’s a very good player and I knew this as soon as I saw him and that is why I made him my captain.
“Not only is he a good player, he is also a top, top lad and does things properly. He has the highest standards for himself and the others.
“People were saying he hadn’t scored this season but he saved up a wonderful goal for us today.”