Carl Ikeme not at fault says Wolves' Kenny Jackett
Kenny Jackett today refused to point the finger of blame at Carl Ikeme after his error allowed Oldham a goal last night.
Ikeme spilled Jonson Clarke-Harris's free kick to gift Danny Philliskirk the first goal in the 2-1 FA Cup first-round replay defeat at Molineux.
Referee Keith Stroud initially blew for a foul on the Wolves keeper but changed his mind when he saw the assistant flagging for a goal.
Substitute Adam Rooney sealed Wolves' fate before Leigh Griffiths's injury-time reply.
But head coach Jackett is prepared to give Ikeme, who has been in outstanding form this season and rescued Wolves last night with two superb saves from Philliskirk, the benefit of the doubt.
"My first impressions were that it wasn't a foul – I haven't seen it again but it just seemed to come off him, and I didn't appeal for it," said Jackett.
"It's not a criticism of Carl Ikeme there because he's had a very good season.
"If he made a mistake then Carl has made many saves for us and has been very good."
It was only when Lee Evans replaced Bjorn Sigurdarson in the 69th minute and Wolves switched from an orthodox 4-4-2 to a diamond formation that Jackett was happier with the set-up of his team.
"I felt that until the last quarter of the game when we changed to a diamond we didn't get through the middle third at all with any type of quality of pass," he said.
"Up until then we were very one dimensional and easy to play against.
"I didn't think the set-up of our team was right in terms of understanding what was required and the pattern needed at home to win games.
"It wasn't until we gave Lee Evans a little spell in that quarter of the game that we had a bit of freedom in midfield with Jack Price, Kevin McDonald and Zeli Ismail in there.
"Evans got on the ball with a cutback from Sam Ricketts which was probably our best move.
"Then there were two good individual efforts from Leigh Griffiths when we got things right with the width of our full-backs and some movement and understanding."
