Wolves' John Ruddy ready to play patient game
Keeper John Ruddy says Wolves had better get used to opposition teams trying to frustrate them in their attempts to stay clear at the top of the league.
Wolves drew 0-0 at Barnsley on Saturday – their second successive stalemate after last weekend’s FA Cup game with Swansea.
The Tykes sat deep at Oakwell and were delighted with a point.
Ruddy, who kept his 15th clean sheet from just 27 league matches, believes plenty of teams could adopt the same tactics in the final months of the season.
He said: “It’s going to be a recurring theme now where teams are going to come and frustrate us and make things difficult. To be fair to Barnsley, that’s exactly what they did.
“It’s only normal when we’re sat where we’re sat. We’ve got a target on our back and teams want to be the ones to derail us.
“If games like Saturday happen, the most important thing is we don’t lose them. I’d say ‘frustrating’ would sum that game up for us.
“I thought we limited them to very few chances and we created enough to win the game comfortably.
“Unfortunately it was one of those days when they just didn’t go in.
“We’ve been in that situation a few times when you have to dig in.
“You come to places like Oakwell and the minimum requirement is you don’t lose.
“We’ve seen many teams over the course of many seasons.”
Wolves face Swansea again on Wednesday in their FA Cup third-round replay before hosting Nottingham Forest in the Championship next Saturday.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have now gone unbeaten for 14 matches in all competitions, a run that stretches back to October 28.
Ruddy has been promoted twice before but says the whole season so far has been a brilliant experience for the whole squad.
Ruddy added: “It’s a fantastic experience for all of us, no matter how long you’ve been in the game or been in a situation like this.
"To be at the top of the league with a good total of points is very nice.
"But there’s a long way to go and the manager’s very firm on it – it’s a game at a time.”
