Wolves defender Richard Stearman believes there is no need to press the panic button despite the club’s current position.

Mick McCarthy’s men go into Saturday’s crunch game against fellow strugglers Bolton without a win in eight after three straight defeats following the 1-0 reverse to Birmingham.

But versatile defender Stearman insists the team have the perfect opportunity to respond to their setback against Blues by gaining the victory they need against Bolton at Molineux.

He said: “There are still plenty of games left to contest. Birmingham was one we’d earmarked to pick some points off, but now we have to push on and look toward the next game and put it right.

“Bolton are down in the bottom three with us and it’s certainly one we’ll be looking to take some points from.

“We just have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off after the Birmingham game and be ready to go again.”

Stearman believes Stephen Ward’s return has already given Wolves a boost, after the left-back completed a fine comeback from two and a half months out with a knee injury by being their best player – despite only coming on at half-time.

The former Leicester man said: “Wardy was brilliant when he came on. He puts his heart and soul into every game and it was a welcome return for him.”

But Stearman admitted the damage had already been done by Lee Bowyer’s third minute chip that won Blues the game.

He said: “It was a bit of a body blow to concede so early on. It was always going to be an uphill battle if we conceded and it proved to be that way.”

“Birmingham have one of the best defensive records in the League and we gave them something to hang on to. But I thought we had a good go at them in the second half. “We had a few chances and maybe it could have been a different story on another day.

“It was like you would expect in the dressing room afterwards. We knew it wasn’t good enough, especially after that first-half showing.”