Mick McCarthy insisted not even water torture would persuade him or his Wolves players to start getting ahead of themselves in the Championship promotion battle.

With second-placed Birmingham City only managing a draw at Nottingham Forest, McCarthy’s side returned to the dressing room after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat of Burnley to find they were six points clear at the top.

It is heady stuff for Wolves, whose long, long years of strife to get out of the second tier have never included such a prominent early position.

McCarthy said: “You can stick the spotlight on me and drip water onto me but I won’t say anything different. There’s still 30 games to play. Of course it’s nice to be ahead but you’re not going to get me waxing lyrical about it.

“I’m sure people will say it’s the dour Yorkshireman talking but it’s common sense, because we just have to keep winning games.

“We didn’t get carried away when we lost three and won’t get carried away when we win a few. It’s a competitive league and it’s about trying to achieve consistency – that’s what the best teams have.

“We’re not playing brilliant football but we are winning games and that’s down to all that hard graft – the running, tackling and horrible bits of the game that you have to do.

“I don’t think we’re a great football side by any stretch of the imagination – we’re miles away. But we work for each other and we stick together and if you do that then you can then show your ability.

“Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea don’t get to the top of the Premier League just because they’ve got the best players.

“They get there because they work the hardest as well. I’ve said all along we want to do better than we did last season and currently we are – we’ve got to continue that.”