An Important Eight Games

Ryan Bennett acknowledged the importance of Wolves’ final eight games of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season as the team prepares for Friday’s trip to Middlesbrough.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men take on Boro in the first of two Easter weekend fixtures and following a two-week international break.

And Bennett discussed the importance of hitting the ground running as Wolves head into the final stages of the season.

“We know we’ve got an important eight games coming up,” said the defender before adding: “We’ve got one goal and that’s to win the league and get promoted. That hasn’t changed.

“With the two results we’ve just had, it would have been nice to keep the momentum and keep the run going over these weeks.

“But we’ve been in these situations before throughout the season and we’ll make sure that we hit the ground running when we come back.”

“There are some young lads in the squad but there are also some experienced boys who’ve been in this position before.

“We’ve had meetings collectively in the changing room as players, Danny’s held meetings – we’ve done it all and it’s been at times throughout the season when we’ve needed it.

“That’s important. The players that we have in this group are strong characters and that’s showing through now at this stage of the season.

“The young lads are getting a little bit of advice and everyone’s keeping on their toes.

“The discipline is still in place who have been there, seen it and been in these sort of positions before, whether that’s in League 1 or the Championship.

“I think it’s the standards throughout the club that have enabled us to keep going.

“We know the goal we’ve got. We’ve got a bit of a cushion but that means nothing unless we go and win our games.

“Ultimately, it’s in our hands. We want to go and win the games that ensures that we win the league and it’s as simple as that.”

The 28-year-old also stressed how important it was for the team to respond after defeat at Villa Park.

Wolves secured back-to-back home wins over Reading and Burton Albion that increased the gap to third place to 13 points.

Bennett said: “It was massive. You look at what the gap went to after the Villa game and what it is now – other teams faltered and we kicked on again.

“That’s the way the league goes. We had our little dip, that every team has and every team is going to have.

“It came at a bad time for us but the lads worked hard every single day coming back in and we knew how important it was to bounce back.

“We didn’t do anything different, we kept it exactly the same, working hard day in, day out.

“Our plan was always the same and that’s what’s seen us through. That’s what we believe in and that’s what we’ll keep doing.”