Mick McCarthy's up for a Toon battle

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy today declared he would relish a repeat of the feisty clash with Newcastle this Saturday.

This weekend sees first meeting of the sides since the fiercely-contested 1-1 draw in August when there were 12 bookings, seven of which went to Wolves.

With tackles flying in, the game quickly gained notoriety, fuelled by Match of the Day running a montage of seven challenges on Newcastle's controversial midfielder Joey Barton.

It also unwittingly became the catalyst for the national media to brand Wolves 'dirty' after they had another seven players booked the following game at Fulham and striker Bobby Zamora suffered a broken leg.

But fans loved the Newcastle game, and many thought the match was one of the best games seen at Molineux in a long time, including McCarthy, who would love a similar 'blood and thunder' showdown at St James'.

"I would relish a game of football exactly the same," said the boss.

"It was fantastic — a great game, the best match down here in a long while — both teams played terrific football.

"I've been involved in games like that as a player and I thought it was just a fabulous game.

Since the teams last met, both have lost their main strikers for different reasons, with Wolves' Kevin Doyle possibly out for the season with a knee injury and Newcastle having sold midweek England goalscorer Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35m in January.

McCarthy, who tried to sign Carroll before he hit the big time, believes Alan Pardew's team can't help but miss football's most expensive Englishman.

"It was a huge loss losing Carroll," he said.

"It's bound to affect you losing someone like that.

"He'd scored 11 goals for them this season, so they were bound to miss him.

"They'll be conscious of trying to prove they don't need him, but you sell somebody for £35m — God above, it's got to be a loss."

But despite the sale of Carroll, McCarthy insists Newcastle remain a fine side.

"I thought they were a good, solid side when they played here," he said.

"If they've got everybody fit they've a good squad of players."