Kenny Jackett defends Wolves team tinkering

Boss Kenny Jackett today defended his tinkering and insisted the play-offs remain a target – but admitted Wolves have lost their "sparkle."

The head coach made five changes for Saturday's clash with Reading but Wolves lost their eight-match unbeaten run as they were beaten 2-1.

Wolves are now five points off the top six in eighth place and face trips to bogey team Huddersfield tomorrow and Norwich on Saturday.

Jackett replaced injured goalkeeper Carl Ikeme and Scott Golbourne with Tomasz Kuszczak and Kortney Hause respectively at the weekend.

He also drafted in Matt Doherty, Lee Evans and Bakary Sako for Dominic Iorfa, Jack Price and Nouha Dicko.

But he insisted the changes weren't due to the heavy schedule this week, saying: "No. It was all about Saturday, to try to win the game and get us back into it.

"At the start of the second-half we weren't in a bad position, drawing 1-1 at home. We couldn't get enough going – we looked flat – and that was the frustration."

There are 17 games left and Wolves are five points adrift of sixth-placed Watford but with a huge goal difference to make up.

Publicly, Jackett feels confident of Wolves' chances, but admits they must show a big improvement on their last three performances.

He said: "Five points is nothing with 17 games to go but we need to be better than we were on Saturday, particularly in the second-half.

"We'd been on a good unbeaten run but I don't think the last few performances have particularly sparkled and we didn't sparkle on Saturday.

"We're capable and looking to perform better than that. We've got two games on the road now and want to put things right."

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