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Wolves' Danny Batth will beat penalty blues

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Wolves captain Danny Batth was today backed to put his penalty woe behind him by becoming an even better defender.

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Twice as nice - take a different view of Carl Ikeme's double save in the win over Bolton with this video taken behind the goal.

Batth has conceded spot-kicks in successive home games against Blackburn and Bolton, and didn't appear to have any defence for his foul on Jermaine Beckford at the weekend when he was booked.

Goalkeeper Carl Ikeme saved his blushes on Saturday when he saved Owen Garvan's spot-kick and the follow-up after being beaten by Jordan Rhodes against Rovers.

But central defensive partner Richard Stearman believes the skipper will turn the experience into a positive.

"He won't let that get to him at all – if anything it will make him work harder on the training pitch to get things right," said Stearman.

"I can't speak highly enough of Danny – he's come on so much and for me it's a pleasure playing with him. I think we've played very well together.

"Being patient before diving in is something we work hard on and it's working, so long may it continue."

Wolves have conceded just three times in the first eight games to boast the best defensive record in the Championship and Stearman praised his back-four colleagues.

"It's an absolute joy to play with these lads – I can't speak highly enough of my fellow defenders," he said.

"The stats don't lie; we've conceded very few goals and I think they've only been from set-pieces as well, so in open play we look very strong."

And he believes they are backed by the best keeper at this level in Ikeme.

"I'm struggling to think of anyone better," he said. "He pulled us out of a hole with that brilliant penalty save.

"This club has been blessed with a lot of good goalkeepers and it's taken 'Keems' a little time to establish himself as number one but now it's going to be very hard for someone to take the gloves off him.

"He was phenomenal on Saturday and he has been for a couple of years now. It's such a big thing for us as a back four knowing we've got big 'Ike' behind us.

"If he's called upon, he's keeping it out of the net for us more often than not. You always think the big man is going to stop goals."

West Ham youngster Elliot Lee, 19, is the latest striker to be linked with Wolves, along with Fulham.

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