Liam Feeney struck the post, Brett Pitman saw an effort cleared off the line and forced Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme into a superb second-half save but Town’s game at Molineux ended 0-0.

Town boss Mick McCarthy made two changes to the team which lost 1-0 at home to Rotherham a month ago with Feeney handed his first start and Ben Pringle returning to the team.

Luke Hyam dropped to the bench, while Daryl Murphy, who suffered a calf injury while away with the Republic of Ireland, remained behind in Suffolk. David McGoldrick was named amongst the subs for the first time since early December.

Teddy Bishop, yet to play a senior game this season, made the trip but wasn’t included in the matchday squad.

Feeney, a half-time sub against the Millers, started in a front three on the right of Pitman with Freddie Sears on the left. Pringle lined-up ahead of Cole Skuse and Jonathan Douglas in a central midfield three. Wolves similarly started in a 4-3-3 system.

The home side were first to threaten in the fifth minute after a mix-up between Douglas and Sears on halfway. Eventually, Conor Coady sent over a cross from the left but Bartosz Bialkowski got there ahead of George Saville and punched clear.

But the Blues had largely had the better of the opening minutes, with Feeney making a lively start, albeit without being able to create an opening.

On 11 Pringle crossed to Jonas Knudsen at the far post, but his knockdown just evaded Sears. Moments later, a Feeney cross from the right was half-cleared to the Dane but he scuffed his shot wide.

Feeney came within an inch or so of claiming his first goal for the Blues in the 18th minute when Pringle’s corner from the left was returned to the on-loan Fulham man. He played it inside to Feeney, who unleashed a powerful low strike which slammed against the outside of Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme’s right post and cannoned behind.

After Chambers had blocked from Jeremy Helan as he looked to cross from the Wolves left, Sears forced Ikeme to save his low shot having brought the ball inside from the left after being fed by Pitman.

There was a scare for the Blues on 24 when Bialkowski failed to claim Matt Doherty’s freekick from deep on the left. The loose ball fell to Wolves skipper Danny Batth but he was unable to get a clear sight of goal before the keeper regained his ground and the danger was cleared.

The home side were now starting to get on top and were looking the more threatening team and on 28 Helan crossed from the left and Knudsen was forced to nod behind at the far post with Bjorn Sigurdarson behind him. From the resultant corner, Batth escaped his man but was just unable to get his head on the ball.

On 34 Kortney Hause blocked from Feeney as he tried to turn a Knudsen cross towards goal, the on-loan Bolton man and Sears having swapped flanks.

Town should have gone in front in the 42nd minute when Hause allowed Pitman to steal the ball from him on the touchline on the right, not the first time the centre-half had been forced into a mistake by the Town striker.

Pitman brought the ball inside and tried to lift it over Ikeme from a very tight angle but the keeper looked to get enough on it to allow Hause to get back and clear off the line. Pitman held his head in his hands, knowing a better option was to have cut the ball across to Feeney on the edge of the six-yard box.

Town will have gone in at the break feeling they ought to have been in front, Feeney having hit the post and Pitman having created but then spurned the late opportunity.

The Blues had started strongly but without creating an opportunity until Feeney’s shot against the post. Wolves had a spell on top midway through the half, but Town had ended the period looking the more threatening side.

Wolves switched James Henry for Sigurdarson on the right of their front three ahead of the second half.

The Blues created the first opportunity after the restart, but Knudsen horribly shinned Sears’s cutback from the right well wide.

On 50 Feeney almost played in Pringle on the left but Henry got back to dispossess the midfielder, then three minutes later Sears shot not too far over from distance but with Pitman in space on the left of the area feeling the ex-Colchester man ought to have passed.

A minute later, Wolves created their first chance of the half, but Saville eventually scraped wide having initially appeared hesitant to shoot.

On 57 Henry escaped the attentions of Knudsen as the former Esbjerg man slipped but shot well over. Soon after Helan was replaced by Joe Mason as the home side switched to 4-4-2.

But Town continued to look the more dangerous side, Ikeme grabbing a low Feeney cross from the right, then on 66 the Nigerian international made the save of the game from Pitman.

Feeney whipped another ball over from the right, the Blues’ striker flicked a header at the near post and the keeper did superbly to get a hand down to his left to save.

In the 68th minute the Blues made a double change with Pringle and Pitman making way for Luke Varney and Kevin Bru, while Wolves switched Michal Zyro for Adam Le Fondre.

The Blues continued to look the most likely scorers with Skuse seeing a strike blocked, Varney heading another Feeney cross over, then both the Bolton loanee and sub Bru shooting straight at Wolves defenders.

The home side, whose fans had been berating them moments earlier for being “boring”, conjured a rare opportunity on 74 when Henry played in Doherty, but Bialkowski saved with his feet and Saville shot wide from the rebound.

With 12 minutes remaining, ex-Wolves defender Christophe Berra headed wide from Bru’s corner.

As the game moved into its final 10 minutes Bru won the ball midway inside the Wolves half as the home side broke following a Knudsen long throw. The Mauritius international exchanged passes with Sears before hitting a shot which looked to be going just wide before Ikeme palmed it out for a corner.

Berra wasn’t too far away from a goal against his old club on 82 when he headed a Bru corner towards goal only for Henry to clear.

Wolves began to have more of the ball in the final five minutes, Henry crossing towards Saville at the far post but the midfielder was unable to turn the ball goalwards. Soon after, Smith did well to get ahead of Henry as he broke into the area.

McGoldrick made his long-awaited return in the 87th minute as a sub for the tiring Feeney, then as the fourth official indicated four additional minutes Bialkowski rushed off his line to clear ahead of Le Fondre.

Deep in injury time, a Wolves corner from the right fell to Doherty but Chambers made a superb block. The ball was sent back into the area but it was headed wide. Soon after, referee Rob Lewis blew his final whistle to confirm the goalless draw.

Town will feel they probably had had enough chances to have won the game with Pitman’s opportunity before the break perhaps the best, while Ikeme did superbly to save the former Bournemouth man’s second-half header. At the other end, Bialkowski was really only forced into one serious stop from Doherty.

Overall, the performance was a great improvement on the Rotherham display and one which should have yielded all three points.

The Blues remain in eighth but now five points plus goal difference behind Derby, who drop to sixth following their 2-1 defeat at Cardiff, now seventh three points ahead of Town. Sheffield Wednesday won 1-0 at Huddersfield and are up to fifth, six points ahead of the Blues.

Town are next in action at home to Charlton, who beat Birmingham 2-1 today, on Tuesday evening.

Wolves: Ikeme, Iorfa, Batth (c), Hause, Doherty, Coady, Price, Saville, Sigurdarson (Henry 46), Zyro (Le Fondre 68), Helan (Mason 58). Unused: Martinez, Deslandes, McDonald, Hunte.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Pringle (Bru 68), Feeney ( McGoldrick 87), Sears, Pitman (Varney 68). Unused: Gerken, Foley, Digby, Hyam. Referee: Rob Lewis (Shrewsbury). Att: 20,225 (Town: 1,154).

Photo: Action Images

judespiveyg added 08:05 - Apr 3 For God's sake, how can Mick still be playing Douglas, he's worse than Lee Bowyer when he was here, he's just useless. As for Skuse, a goal record of 1 in 130-something for a centre mid speaks for itself.
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tallguy6767 added 08:06 - Apr 3 The . beat . Mick mills tach. The best posts you've put on. Totally agree and have been saying similar for ages now. They say a team reflects it's manager , enough said really. I feel sorry for the zombies that are still behind this bad joke !!
3

ChrisFelix added 08:33 - Apr 3 The current rubbish served up at PR not helped by me viewing the video on the star website of Robsons last season @ Ipswich
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JimmyP45 added 09:18 - Apr 3 I don't understand. Mick said after the Rotherham game that he made a big mistake and got the team selection wrong being that the midfield of Hyam, Skuse and Douglas was the issue. Then against Wolves it's Skuse and Douglas again. The two stooges who sabotage any chance of us playing football every single week. How is this happening???
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StochesStotasBlewe added 10:09 - Apr 3 Essex57, The belief is slowly ebbing away, I will be there on Tuesday more out of habit than hope of seeing anything resembling entertaining football. Also will retain the season ticket, it,s better than being dragged around John Lewis on a Saturday afternoon with Mrs Pinewood (just). Cast your minds back over 25 years ago, the worst manager & football played when a certain John Duncan was in charge. A brave decision was made to recruit a new boss, John Lyall who,s philosophy was the polar opposite of the previous incumbent. In 2 seasons, his rag tag bunch of freebies, youngsters mixed with a dose of experience won the 2nd division playing passing exciting football. Big fat Joe also had the same outlook & had he not had to sell key personel would of achieved the same as Lyall. My point is it can be done, we don,t just have to accept blindly that the present regime is "as good as it gets".

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ITFC2011 added 11:25 - Apr 3 I'm not sure what people are expecting! We are not a big club, we cannot compete with boro, but let, Hull, Derby budget thus cannot buy our way out of the league. Which only leaves a couple of places up for grabs each year in the play offs. I would rather take our position which is consistently in top half since MM has taken over, rather than change the manager and end up like Fulham, Leeds, Blackburn, Forrest, wolves who haven't competed for the play offs (besides wolves last year) for a while. Yes we would all love to be cermented in the play offs but with big teams with big budgets involved it's never going to be easy, unless you have for some reason you have a season than just 'clicks' like Brighton or Leicester in the prem!

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Dissboyitfc added 11:48 - Apr 3 pinewood...top post! Essex57... i am struggling to see where you come up with 100 million from?
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goat_man added 11:54 - Apr 3 That was lame. Huge fan of McCarthy, but no idea how Douglas gets in the team every week? Particularly when we have Foley now who certainly seems to be a far better player than Conference Douglas and League 2 Hyam. I do think Evans will back MM over the summer and that we will see a big turn over of players.
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bluelodgeblue added 12:31 - Apr 3 I think MM is getting frustrated that he has no real cash to spend and I think he will look to go post season, I also think ME is looking to sell the club as he will want to keep the debt as low as possible and has had his fingers burnt by RK/PJ. Even If he was to give MM say £10m to spend plus the £6m he has to fork out each season that's our debt to around £100m? ............and there is no such thing as guaranteed promotion?

0

cats_whiskers added 14:33 - Apr 3 Looking at his comment on page 3 here Maths doesn't appear to be Essex57 strong point That probably “SUMS” him up… in almost every one of his posts on here. i.e. 2+2=5 This guy is a total failure and can never think logically as his brain certainly is so muddled by Blind Faith.
1

beornioblue added 16:31 - Apr 3 Well done to anyone who made the trip up good support away as always. Not sure if anyone watched the highlights on here yet but the majority of positives seemed to come from feeney and searsy of course. There is a moment on there though which unfortunately highlights two of our least able players chambers and Douglas just making a hash of something completely and letting them in for what looked like their only chance. Those two Douglas especially are just not good enough for where we as a football club need to be and are looking to get to. Ps really don't see the point in bringing on didz for 3 minutes either but varney instead doesn't make any sense to me. Will still be going on Tuesday but not going to even attempt to predict a result if he starts skuse and Douglas again. Sad times , mind you with it basically being over now why not let some of the young players get some first team experience , use these games as training for next season, at least get the fans back Mick!!

1

dugoutdave added 17:38 - Apr 3 With these alleged doping allegations in football, at least the FA wont have a problem finding the dope in our club and the ' hash': he's made of being our manager !
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essex57 added 19:27 - Apr 3 Dissboy jm rk pj spent 70 mill on purchases and 30 mill on signing on fees please feel free to write a thread on the forum you will get a full breakdown off them as i did.
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Uhlenbeek added 21:59 - Apr 3 Couldn't agree more iaintaylorx I just don't understand what ME is getting out of owning this club, if he was actually interested in its future surely he would look to invest or appoint someone who is willing to use the youth facilities. If he only has interest in the club as an investment then surely he needs to make wholesale changes to reap the reward of the investment. Either way, he is wasting his and our time

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Dissboyitfc added 22:29 - Apr 3 essex57... you made a statement and i asked you to clarify? 70 million on signings, really cant see it.
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warktheline added 22:41 - Apr 3 The club lacks ambition , and it's bloody glaringly obvious to all and sundry, with the exception of essex57! It's so laborious I could cry through total frustration.
1

wayway added 23:15 - Apr 3 First of all there is no ' Marcus Evans', only a company of that name. They decided it would be a good idea to buy a football club as a lot of corporations were doing. They knew nothing about the game and were advised to sppoint a big name manager and a big name ceo not caring that he also knew nothing about the game. They expected to be in the Premiership in 2 years and money was wasted. Now they know that promotion is impossible they are just treading water waiting to hive the club off having pocketed the Cresswell and Mings money.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 07:10 - Apr 4 I think it's a bit misleading to compare "no money" Royle and "no money" McCarthy. Royle was great, and the philosophy was totally different: along the lines of "if they score four, then we'll get six." But Joe inherited a squad put together by Sir George Burley, while McCarthy inherited a bunch of journeymen mostly.
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