Wolves' Kevin Doyle blasts referee

Kevin Doyle has accused referee Mark Halsey of robbing Wolves of two major decisions in their 3-3 draw against Tottenham at Molineux.

The Bolton official failed to send off Alan Hutton for denying Nenad Milijas a goalscoring opportunity when left two yards from goal in the 39th minute, although he booked the player and awarded Wolves a penalty converted by Doyle.

Then Halsey disallowed an effort when goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes spilled the ball into the net when Richard Stearman challenged him 10 minutes from time.

In the event, Doyle's first Premier League brace for Wolves and Steven Fletcher's 87th-minute equaliser salvaged a point for Mick McCarthy's side yesterday.

But the striker felt Halsey's errors made their job a lot harder.

Doyle said: "I don't like seeing people get sent off but in the rules of the game, how is it not a sending-off?

"If you deny a goalscoring opportunity, how more obvious has it got to be then two yards out from goal?

"I think it was a sending off. It was probably one of the more obvious ones that went against us this season.

"If the decision had been given, it certainly would have helped towards us getting three points.

"And I don't think the 'goal' from the Stearman incident should have been disallowed.

"I thought he gave the goal then changed his mind."

Conversely, McCarthy refused to criticise the official.

He said: "I don't want to see players sent off and I couldn't really see it - but everyone's told me Hutton's challenge on Milijas should have been a sending off.

"But we had a good goal disallowed, no question about that."

The draw left Wolves two points from safety with nine games left.

Doyle added: "Our luck is sort of changing - we might not have got that draw earlier in the season."

Wolves go into a 12-day break on the back of a three-match unbeaten run and Doyle believes they have to maintain their improved form to beat the drop.

He said: "If we play like that, we should stay up. We've had some tremendous performances and results over the last six weeks but we're still in the bottom three.

"We've never become detached, but everyone around us are getting the same results."