MICK McCarthy admitted it was a ‘missed opportunity’ in his team not beating ten-man Blues.

“Against ten men, of course it is” he said. “But we were hardly battering Birmingham and creating plenty of chances.

“They are very adept at putting two banks of four in front of you and being hard to play against.

“Blues are very good at defending and worked very hard at stopping us.

‘‘They had the two banks of four and then Cameron Jerome did very well for them working the channels up front and holding it up. And then it doesn’t help if we’ve got a nervous disposition being in the bottom three and needing points.

“We didn’t have what was necessary to pick a hole, whether it be from a final pass or a bit of magic.

“I think it was a fair result because we’ve not exactly created loads of chances despite having a man extra for an hour.

“I’m disappointed because the opportunity was there but we’ve come away with another point.”

McCarthy was happy enough with the blistering start that saw Wolves take a seventh minute lead through Steven Fletcher’s well-taken penalty, his seventh league goal of the season.

“We started the game really well and the penalty came about because of that,” he said.