Wolves loan winger backed to silence jeers

The on-loan Stoke winger's substitution was greeted by ironic cheers and then boos in yesterday's 3-0 defeat by Peterborough.

Pennant was hauled off after being booked for a foul on former Wolves defender Mark Little in the setback, while playing left midfield after a switch to 3-4-3 at half-time of a game which ended in the biggest defeat under Solbakken.

The team has won just one of the 10 games Pennant has started during his stop-start loan, while the 29-year-old has come on in three more games during Wolves' struggles to re-assert themselves in the second tier.

But Solbakken believes the former Liverpool and Birmingham wide man can come through this difficult period and claimed the reaction was borne out of fans' frustration.

The Wolves boss said: "He's strong enough to live with that. I don't think he was the worst player on the pitch.

"It was borne from frustration – Jermaine tried his best. In some ways, he was successful and, in some, he wasn't.

"But that wasn't only him – there were a few others as well."

The Norwegian is hoping to have Slawomir Peszko pressing for a place on the New Year's Day trip to Crystal Palace, after the Poland international's return to full training in the last few days.

Meanwhile, Solbakken warned Jamie O'Hara is "some way" from being fully match-fit yet. The £5m former Tottenham midfielder made his comeback from nine months out with hernia problems yesterday as an 86th-minute substitute.