Winger Michael Kightly has called for more of the same from Wolves despite their 5-2 defeat at Sunderland.

Mick McCarthy’s Premier League return to the Stadium of Light ended in disappointment yesterday, after he saw his battling side out gunned.

Penalties from Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones put the Black Cats ahead, before John Mensah’s own goal and Kevin Doyle’s strike levelled early in the second-half.

Three goals in the final 20 minutes from Jones, Michael Turner and Michael Mancienne’s own goal ended Wolves’ resistance despite the visitors being on top for long spells.

Now Kightly has insisted they have to maintain their work ethic to succeed in the top flight.

He said: “The boys worked their socks off and that’s how we’ve got to play.  We’re not going to be the best footballing side in the league but we need to work hard – every single one of us.

“We showed we can mix it at this level. Sunderland is a tough place to come and not many teams will get the joy we got. If we can cut out the little mistakes I’m sure we’ll stay in this league.

“We caused them a lot of problems. We had one cleared off the line, they got in a few blocks and another day we could have got five.

“At 2-2 the crowd started getting on their back a little bit and, after being 2-0 up, I think they were a little bit shell-shocked.

“I thought we could go on and win it but then we conceded a bad goal.”

Kightly, who replaced Segundo Castillo at half-time, believes defensive lapses cost them dear.

He said” “To give away two penalties is criminal but then we got ourselves back in the game – deservedly so.

“But we gave away a sloppy third goal and we know as a team we should be doing better than that. Then it was a free header from a corner and the fifth at the end took a deflection, so we’re massively disappointed with the goals we conceded.

“You can’t give anyone an inch in this game because they’ll take a mile. We gave it a good go and Sunderland will be very happy to win the game – let alone win it 5-2 – they’ll admit it wasn’t a 5-2 game.

“But this is the next level, and you get punished for making little mistakes.”

Kightly picked out Turner’s goal, Sunderland’s fourth, as the one which hit them the hardest before Mancienne deflected Bent’s shot past goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey in injury time.

He said: “It was a free header from a corner and we’re disappointed, because we practise set plays in training a lot. It killed us off really.

“The fifth one got a deflection and trickled in. On another day it goes wide which is the little bit of luck you need. We need to get back on it next weekend.”