Mick backing Wolves to roar

Mick McCarthy believes his injury-hit Wolves squad have proved they have the "character" to emerge from their toughest spell of the season.

Back-to-back defeats have brought Wolves' season to a crossroads, but McCarthy believes his players will stand up to be counted in the pressurised atmosphere of tomorrow's game.

Wolves managed to bounce back from back-to-back defeats against Sheffield United and Hull earlier in the season, responding with a run of just one defeat in 13. And McCarthy has every confidence that they can do the same again.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we have the characters in the dressing room to handle this situation," he said.

"That is not an issue at all, we have great characters and we wouldn't have got the points on the board that we have done if we didn't.

"It certainly wasn't a problem last year and we have much the same characters in there last season."

McCarthy confirmed that Wolves will start with Jay Bothroyd up front at Loftus Road – with Stephen Elliott his likely partner – as the Molineux men go looking for a response from their worst run of form of the campaign.

"I'm not worried yet. It is about how many points you end up with at the end of the season – every team will have a little dip in form. We have had four or five games where we haven't been right at it.

"We ground out a couple of wins in that spell, but we are a scalp and when you come against teams that are right at it then you do come unstuck.

"Two defeats on the bounce is not what we wanted and we need to change it because the league is so tight at the top."

McCarthy has warned his players not to take QPR lightly – despite their lowly league position.

The R's are managed by a newcomer to English football Luigi Di Canio, who McCarthy believes has them well-drilled. "They have very good players and the win in midweek will give them confidence," he said. "That will have given them a boost, especially the way Burnley have been going."