Mick McCarthy charitable after Rotherham defeat

Aug 27 2008

MICK McCarthy handed plenty of credit to Rotherham after his Wolves team were dumped out of the Carling Cup by the League Two side.

Injury-hit Wolves never got going and could not even make their superior quality count in the penalty shoot-out, which they lost 4-3.

But though the manager expressed disappointment at exiting the competition, there was a sense less of devastation than decks being cleared for the serious business of the promotion bid ahead.

“Rotherham played well,” said the Wolves manager. “They got men behind the ball and made it difficult for us.

“I don’t think our better players did particularly well on the night but I think we should give Rotherham credit rather than look for any reasons for our performance. They played well, stopped us playing and competed just as well as we did.

“I don’t think either team deserved to win it over 90 minutes or in extra time.

“Then you’d think the Championship team might have the edge but we didn’t and they have taken better penalties than us.”

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Matt Jarvis, ruled out last night by minor injuries, will be back for the league game at home to Forest on Saturday.

But McCarthy confirmed that the injury sustained by left-back George Elokobi at Ipswich on Saturday is serious. Surgery – and a long lay-off – is inevitable.

“George has damaged all the ligaments in his knee to some degree,” the manager said. “We don’t know completely yet, it is just settling down, but it’s a bad injury. It looks like he has damage to his medial, lateral and anterior cruciate ligaments.”