McCarthy happy to share spoils

Mick McCarthy was happy with a point after admitting Sheffield United were better than Wolves and could have been 3-0 up at half-time.

"I don't see this as losing two points, it's one gained because they played very well, they were probably the better side and had the better chances," said McCarthy.

"We could have won but we could also have been 3-0 down at half time. That hasn't happened too often against us this season.

"It's one of those rare occasions when a team was better than us.

"I'm not going to feel hard done by in terms of getting a point off such a strong team.

"We've taken four points off them and if I could do that off all the others, I'll be happy."

McCarthy believes Wolves fans disappointed at the result should give credit to the opposition.

"Have a look at Sheffield United's squad," he said.

"Gary Naysmith and Chris Morgan are Premier League players and Kyle Naughton will be, no question - he's different class.

"I think (Stephen) Quinn played in the Premier League and Nick Montgomery too while Brian Howard is a good player.

"James Beattie is one of the best strikers in the league and Nathan Dyer is a right handful, even though Stephen Ward was ill."

And the Molineux boss says all that matters is the bigger picture as leaders Wolves maintained their seven-point lead.

"It's not how, when or where you get points - it's the tally you end up with," he said.

"Maybe we wouldn't have taken a point from a game like that in the past and that speaks volumes for the players. They weren't at their best and had to work hard to get a foothold in the game.

"We still created chances but in the first half they had the better of it comfortably.

"It was a really valuable point because we could have lost. Kevin Blackwell will say we should have lost and will be waxing lyrical about their team because they played well."

McCarthy believes the match was another example of how teams are raising their game against Wolves.

"Because we're up there, other teams are always going to have just that little bit of extra edge or motivation," he said.

"But our motivation is we're seven points clear and are top of the league. We've got good players and a good team - we wouldn't be in that position if we didn't have those players."

Wayne Hennessey made five saves to keep Wolves in the game and McCarthyÊrefused to blame his keeper in the build-up to Beattie's equaliser.Ê

"I don't know how you get from super-hero to villain in three or four moves, but Wayne is far from the villain because he played well," he added.

Wolves went into the game 19 points ahead of Sheffield United and the manager believesÊthe result showed how close the Championship is.

"I've always said that's the case," said McCarthy.

"The league is very close. If Doncaster had our strikers they'd be doing a lot better because they'd had four straight clean sheets before we went there."