Wolves' Carl Ikeme 'too good' for League One

Early Player of the Year contender Ikeme reeled off his 10th clean sheet of the season in Saturday's 0-0 draw against Brentford and is tonight bidding to keep out Tranmere, who won 5-1 at Coventry at the weekend.

The 27-year-old shotstopper continued his highly impressive form with fine late saves to deny Bees substitute Toumani Diagouraga and Alan McCormack on Saturday to keep Wolves' best defensive record in League One, with only 10 goals conceded in 17 games.

Ikeme's heroics include saving a late penalty from Freddie Sears in the 3-0 win at Colchester and denying Nahki Wells four times in the 2-1 win at Bradford.

Left-back Scott Golbourne said recently that Ikeme is the best keeper outside the Premier League.

And asked why Wolves have such a good defensive record, fellow full-back Matt Doherty said: "Carl Ikeme is a good start.

"He's a top goalkeeper who's too good for this league.

"He's made some unbelievable saves and if it wasn't for him we'd have conceded more goals.

"The shots aren't easy and they're similar saves to what he'd have to make in any league.

"We feel we need to go out with the mindset of not wanting to concede to be at the top of this league."

Doherty, who made his comeback at the weekend after missing six games with a hamstring injury, added: "To keep a clean sheet was good and you'd always rather a 0-0 than a 1-1.

"It was a tough one to come back to as they'd won six in a row and they played well.

"A draw was probably a fair result because both teams had a few chances."

Doherty is looking to carry on his pre-injury form after making a full recovery.

"The hamstring felt fine and I got through the game quite well," he said.

"I thought maybe after the 60 to 70-minute mark I might cramp up, but it held out quite well and I felt pretty good in the second half.

"It was then a case of waiting to see how my recovery was for tonight's game but it all felt quite good afterwards."