Doyle happy to be written off

Doyle happy to be written off

Published Jan. 7, 2011 7:15 p.m. ET

Mick McCarthy's men moved out of the Premier League's bottom three with a 1-0 success against the Blues at Molineux on Wednesday night. The victory came just a week after another impressive performance in beating Liverpool, although the focus in the aftermath of the game was on the continuing crisis at Stamford Bridge rather than Wolves' own resolute and determined display. They now travel to Championship side Doncaster in the FA Cup third round tomorrow. "It's nice to get out of the bottom three and a bit of a relief for 10 days," Doyle said on the club website. "Hopefully we can stay out of the bottom three for longer which is good psychologically. "We'd been in there for a while and we're used to being in and around it and fighting to get out of it." Wolves have now taken 12 from the last 21 points available, a statistic which could look even more impressive had they not lost to fellow strugglers West Ham and Wigan. "Four wins out of seven is a good run but teams around us are winning as well," added Doyle. "People will still write us off and I am sure we may well be back in the bottom three at some stage and then get out of it again. "The season will continue to be up and down so we're not getting carried away with ourselves. "We were written off last season as one of the favourites to go down and it's no different this time. "That's not a problem to us and when you're fighting as underdogs it gives you something to battle for." McCarthy will field a strong team against Doncaster, although 18-year-old Matt Doherty will make his debut at right-back with Ronald Zubar and Kevin Foley missing with minor ankle injuries. Striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake will be out for three weeks with a hamstring injury he picked up against Chelsea, while captain Karl Henry and defender Jody Craddock are still not ready to return following injury. Marcus Hahnemann will play in goal as Wayne Hennessey is rested. "Despite the fact we've got a few knocks and will be missing a couple we will be taking it very seriously," McCarthy said. "We want to take care of the Doncaster game - we want to win it and certainly don't want to draw it. "It's definitely not a weakened team." Wolves today have suffered a blow in losing out to Fulham in the battle to Aston Villa midfielder Steve Sidwell. They confirmed yesterday they were in discussions with the 28-year-old, having already agreed a fee with Villa, but the former Chelsea man is instead set for a move to Craven Cottage. Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey said they were still hopeful of bringing in two or three new faces in the transfer window. "Fulham have come in for him (Sidwell), and, rather than take over his contract which runs to the end of the season, they have offered him a long-term deal," he said. "We move on, we've always said how difficult it is to get players in, especially at this time of the year. "We never believe a player is ours until he actually signs, so there was no great surprise - although there was disappointment - here because we always knew there were other clubs interested. "Even a few days into the window's opening, it's already proving just as difficult as in previous years. "However we continue to actively pursue at least two or three potential new signings."

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