Wolves’ warrior Jody Craddock today admitted he got through Saturday’s game against Villa with a painkilling injection.

The 34-year-old defender revealed he needed the jab to ease the discomfort in the 1-1 draw after having seven stitches in his forehead in his clash with Joseph Yobo in the stalemate at Everton the previous week.

And Craddock, who again played with his head heavily bandaged, was reminded of the injury every time he headed the ball.

“I had an injection before the game to ease any pain, but it was still sore even from doing some headers in the warm up!” he said.

“I just had to grit my teeth and get on with it.

“I managed to come through OK and the cut didn’t open up.

“You try to forget about it but then you head a ball and you quickly remember!

“It soon wears off and from my point of view it’s just nice to be involved in the team.”

Craddock believes his team-mates are showing the same never-say-die spirit as he is after successive draws against two of last season’s top six.

“We’ve picked up good results in our last two games, especially considering Villa had beaten Chelsea the week before,” he said.

“That’s what we’ve got to do if we want to stay in this division, compete with these sorts of teams and pick up points whenever we can.

“On another day we might just have a bit of extra luck and win those games, but if we keep performing like that and matching the teams we’re playing, we’ll get results.

“Winning is important but, come the end of the season, those two draws might be really important for us.

“We need as many points as we can get and however we get them doesn’t matter.”

As the only outfield survivor of Wolves’ last spell in the Premier League six years ago, Craddock believes the Class of 2009 stand a much better chance of staying up.

“It does feel like we’re a lot closer than we were last time,” he added.

“At the start of that season we were getting pumped by four or five goals and it was difficult for us.

“Now we do feel we can get results against these teams and we will get results.

“We may be down there in the league, but if we were playing poorly and getting thrashed every week it would be a different matter.

“But that’s not happening and as long as keep working hard on and off the field I’m sure we’ll grind out results and get up the table.

“We want to stay in the Premier League and I think we’re going the right way about trying to achieve it.”

Wolves bid to extend their unbeaten run to three matches this Saturday, but as one of three former Potters players in the gold and black ranks, with Karl Henry and Chris Iwelumo, he believes they face a huge battle.

“Stoke are a very tough team and another who will face us on the back of a great result having won at Tottenham,” he said.

“Results like that show just how far they have come in the season-and-a-bit since getting into the Premier League.

“”I had four games there at the start of the season a couple of years ago before getting recalled back to Wolves.

“They were talking about offering me a permanent contract but as it happened, Wolves called me back and I went back into the team.

“It’s been fantastic for me here since then and I haven’t looked back.”

By Wolves reporter Tim Nash