Wolves' woe leads a bad weekend

Wolves threw away the chance to go six points clear at the top of the Championship by losing against lowly Plymouth.

In the Premier League, Albion are now cut adrift after more away-day woe at Everton, with Villa wasting the chance to cement their Champions League hopes by chucking away a two-goal lead in the last two minutes by drawing against Stoke.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy admits his side may be too young for the tension of a promotion run-in, after branding them "hopeless and dreadful" following Saturday's 1-0 defeat.

The Championship leaders never recovered from Paul Gallagher's 39-second goal, as they crashed to their third defeat in four games in one of their most nervous performances of the season.

Bizarrely, despite a run of one win in 11, Wolves remain three points clear after Birmingham lost 2-1 to Sheffield United yesterday and Reading were beaten 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest.

But McCarthy isn't pulling any punches as his team continue to falter.

He said: "Let's just cut to the chase – we were hopeless, dreadful. Starting 1-0 down doesn't help, especially against a team fighting for their lives and we just didn't have the devilment to break them down.

"We gave them a goal from a setpiece that we'd talked about just before we went out – we told them what could happen from throw-ins.

"Maybe it's all getting to us. Maybe the age of the side is a problem, maybe it's getting nervy. Perhaps we're all suffering.

"Some of our players – good players – looked edgy and nervy and were making mistakes they wouldn't normally make.

"Maybe it's a case of trying too hard to win in terms of trying 70-yard pass or turning and shooting when it's not on. The quality was really poor."

McCarthy is another surprised that his wobbling Wolves side have not been overtaken yet.

He added: "I'm surprised no-one has gone above us yet. Everyone else must be as hopeless as us. We can't carry on like this and rely on other results – we need a win.

"At some stage somebody has to grab the initiative and go and win it. I still think we can put a run together – we've already done it twice this season."

Captain Karl Henry's two-match ban for his 10th booking on Saturday starts next weekend.