Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has revealed he has made his players sit through the video of Saturday’s defeat against Chelsea – to remind them how well they played.

McCarthy was initially so angry at the manner of the weekend setback to the Premier League leaders that he refused to contemplate any positive feedback the largely solid performance brought.

But on reflection, and with the aid of the match video, the Molineux chief believes the magnitude of such a strong display against the Premier League leaders where they created the better chances will stand them in good stead as they prepare for a different test at Bolton this Saturday.

“We’ve watched the game again and I’ve tried to emphasise how well we did play and that my anger wasn’t directed at the performance but the fact we were beaten and should have come away with something,” he said.

“I thought we played very well on Saturday but we just let them off the hook.

“We were always in the game, despite being 1-0 down at half time.

“They only had one worthwhile attempt on goal and they scored from it.

“And we proved that by having the two best chances before they scored again.

“So of course it gives us heart but after the game I didn’t really feel like reflecting.

“I know we played well and created good chances but it’s the other emotions that come through like hurt and frustration as to why I had to be annoyed with the players after losing to Chelsea.

“I wasn’t annoyed with the performance but just that when we got into good positions, we didn’t put a great ball in on a few occasions.

“There’s nothing we could have done about the saves Petr Cech made but we could have stopped their goals.

“If we’d have scored their first goal we’d have been waxing lyrical about it but I know from the start to the end of it we could have stopped it.

“And the second goal was bad defending and that killed the game because it took the sting out of us and took the sting out of the crowd.

“It became a damp squib after what for 66 minutes had been a fantastic performance.”

McCarthy reckons his battle-hardened Championship heroes have developed streetwise heads needed to clinch Premier League survival.

Despite 11 signings since the summer, the vast majority of the players who are keeping Wolves’ heads above water were plying their trade in the Championship last season, which McCarthy’s men won by seven points.

Captain Karl Henry has only missed one Premier League game this season, Matt Jarvis three and Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra five and six respectively, while current incumbents Stephen Ward, Kevin Foley and David Jones were all regulars in the second tier last season and Marcus Hahnemann and Kevin Doyle likewise for Reading.

But for injury, 2008-09 stalwarts Michael Kightly, Dave Edwards and Andy Keogh would surely have played greater parts this term too.

And it is that Championship backbone McCarthy believes will see Wolves safe as they prepare for Saturday’s trip to rivals Bolton a point and two places clear of the drop zone.

“We’ve given ourselves a good chance with the position we’re in but I always felt we would given the squad we’ve got,” said the boss.

“I know we’ve come up from the Championship and a lot of our lads who helped us do that came from lower leagues.

“But they’ve all been brilliant, the spirit we have helps and we’re also playing well.

“We’ve got a greater understanding of the league and our performances have got better.

“If we didn’t get better there’d be something wrong now we’ve played 26 games.

“We’re managing to play at this level now – it might be towards the bottom end of the level but we’re playing at it.

“I think it will be out of those seven teams and if that does prove to be the case, I fancy us to finish above three of them.”