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Mixed emotions for Paul Lambert after Wolves stop rot against Ipswich

Paul Lambert had mixed emotions after Wolves finally avoided defeat - but wasted chances to beat Ipswich.

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Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Ben Marshall both hit the woodwork in the closing minutes after a second half in which Wolves were very much on top.

But a clean sheet - Wolves' first for almost two months - and a point were the positives to take for Lambert.

He said: "It was important we didn't lose. It's mixed emotions and a missed opportunity, but (a point) was vital for us - this was a must-not-lose game.

"I'm happy with a point. I thought in the second half we were the better side. Even the first half I thought we were comfortable.

"You could feel the edginess in the crowd as well.

"I thought we had a really good claim for a penalty with Dave Edwards' header. We had a decent amount of the ball.

"The second half I thought we were the more likely team to score - we hit the bar with Ben Marshall, who I think's getting better every game. I felt we played well, second half.

"Unless I'm looking through gold-tinted glasses we don't look like a team that's down there. We look as if we've got a threat every time we go forward, we just need to finish it off.

"Regarding our performance I was happy."

Lambert made five changes to his team and surprisingly dropped £13million record signing Helder Costa.

The Portuguese winger only came on for the final eight minutes. Lambert said of the changes, and of Costa: "I could have (changed it earlier with subs) but you upset the apple cart sometimes and the set plays come in and lads haven't adjusted to it.

"The way things are going we probably had to be a bit more conservative, take the point, take a clean sheet and go back up the road.

"I trust any of the lads to play. I thought this was a game to bring back (Jack) Price with Romain (Saiss) because Ipswich play a back three, I thought our full backs would get a lot of joy. We got down the sides of Ipswich and got plenty of joy into the box.

"We can't keep relying on Helder at every point, it's unfair on him. I had a chat with him yesterday, he was tired from the amount of games he's had, and I knew it would be a battle here, similar to the Cardiff game.

"He's a young lad, the pressure heaps on him, so we have to spread that around the team. But a lot of that was the type of game it was going to be.

"Andreas Weimann was fantastic, I thought the front three were very good."

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