Mick McCarthy insisted Wolves were denied two "stonewall" penalties during this afternoon's 4-2 defeat at the hands of Stoke.

The first appeal came after Danny Pugh appeared to have handballed in the area on 56 minutes, the second in injury time when Salif Diao looked to have fouled Rob Edwards.

The boss said: "We were denied two penalties. I've watched them again and that's what I think.

"I went to see the referee about it to tell him as politely as possible that he had made bad decisions.

"But neither were given and there's nothing we can do about it now.

"I thought we were terrific in the first half and deserved to go in at 1-1.

"But at 2-1 we went a bit gung-ho trying to get the third and they caught us on the break.

"We knew we would have to defend free-kicks and corners and Wayne Hennessey made a good save (from Mamady Sidibe) but (Leon) Cort was fortunate with the rebound.

"The performance was full of energy and we played some good football.

"The belief is still there that we can get into the play-offs but we've got to defend better."

The boss was pleased with the performance of loan signing Kevin Kyle, who made his full debut today.

Mick added: "I think his all-round contribution was excellent.

"It was a new partnership with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and they need to build an understanding.

"He didn't miss that first half opportunity - he couldn't get a shot off."

The manager revealed that Gary Breen would have started today but he arrived at the ground with a tight hamstring.