Richard Stearman helps guide Wolves to victory

Aug 25 2008

NEW signing Richard Stearman paid tribute to a real team effort at Portman Road as he helped Wolves earn their first clean sheet since his summer arrival from Leicester City.

After not having made too dazzling a start to his Wolves career, Stearman responded to the club’s second defensive injury in as many weeks by turning in a man-of-the-match performance in the win over Ipswich.

And Stearman said: “It shows the character of the team that we kept going.

“First we lost Jody Craddock last week and now George Elokobi, but Neill Collins was terrific and Darren Ward came on and did a good job.

“And getting a clean sheet was important.

“We’ve started well scoring a few goals but needed to get that clean sheet on the board which is what we’ve done.

“For me personally it’s important as well.

“I’ve come into a team which registered a lot of clean sheets last season and it’s nice to get my first as a Wolves player.

“Having said that it’s probably not a day to single out any individuals because it was such an all-round team effort.

“If we can maintain this sort of standard then I’m sure it will keep us where we want to be.”

Stearman also pointed out how impressive it was to get such a good result at such a notoriously difficult place.

“Ipswich are particularly strong at home,” he said. “But we deserved the points.’’