Mick McCarthy insists the Championship promotion race could yet be caught out by a team ‘coming up on the rails’ – and insists he won’t be convinced of his team’s chances until five games to go.

Wolves go into the second half of the season with a six-point lead after Mc-Carthy’s side, Birmingham and Reading set the pace.

But the Wolves boss believes the promotion-chasing picture is far from complete.

“There’s so many games to go at the moment – you could win it, you could lose it, loads of teams are still involved,” said the Molineux chief.

“If we’re in this position with five or 10 games then let’s see. I was there with Sunderland and you don’t want to fall behind with five games to go.

“If it (fell away) happened now, or with 15 games to go, there’s so many matches left – someone could catch us.

“Someone could end up getting out of the bottom eight or nine and end up in the play-offs. They could be teams who turn it around in January – it only takes someone to make a couple or three signings from somewhere and that could give someone impetus to change it.

“Crystal Palace went fifth last week and I thought ‘where have they come from?’ I hadn’t been looking – I don’t really.”