Matt Doherty was disappointed Wolves were not able to take a positive result from their defeat to Tottenham Hotspur after conceding a ‘sloppy’ goal in the closing minutes of the game.
The Old Gold continue to battle despite knowing their fate for next season, and despite pushing Tottenham close, were condemned to a third Premier League defeat in succession.
With just four games of the campaign remaining, Doherty is urging his teammates to keep fighting so the squad can take momentum into next season.
On defeat against Tottenham
“It was probably a pretty a pretty tense game, and for the neutral, I don’t reckon it was a nice game to watch, but we obviously knew what was on the line for Tottenham. We knew how important the game was for them, but we also knew how important it was for ourselves.
“We want to finish the season as strongly as possible, we all want to play well for whatever reason, and we’re at home in front of our fans. We’re obviously disappointed to concede right towards the end, but I think the game was pretty close and we competed hard for the whole game.
“I couldn’t fault my teammates. I think everybody put a shift in, nobody gave up or quit at any point out there. We worked hard and just came up short.”
On conceding from a set-piece
“I think we did well. We were in the game for pretty much the whole game, but it was a sloppy goal to concede at the end from a set-piece. As a team, especially in this league, but in every league, when you concede from set pieces, you feel like that’s your bread and butter and that you shouldn’t concede from.
“That is disappointing, but the effort and the desire was there from the players. We kept going till the last second and at no point did we give up or stop. We lost, but I think there was some decent performances.”
On pushing for the final four games
“We want to finish the season with a lot of momentum. We want to win games. We don’t want to finish bottom of the league, we can still finish second bottom, and although we’re still relegated, it’s just a little goal that we don’t want to finish rock bottom of the league.
“We’ve got four games to go to try and get as many points as we can. That’s the motivation. We don’t want to finish the season with seven losses in a row – that wouldn’t be good for anybody, so the motivation is to try and win.”
On playing for their futures
“Players should not need motivation from me. Everybody’s motivated to do well for themselves, for your own personal pride. Every time you represent the club, you’re representing yourself at the same time, so you want to play well.
“That should be people’s motivation for whatever happens in the summer, whether players want to leave or stay, you want to try and impress wherever you may end up next. The motivation for everybody is always to play well and the motivation is for Wolves.
“You still have the crest on, you still have to represent the badge, so we don’t need any extra motivation. But I think that showed in the performance. There was no lack of energy or lack of desire, which could be possible with the situation that we’re in, but the lads were on it today.”
On needing to take momentum into next season
“That’s why I say we want to finish the season well, because you want to have momentum going into the off season. We want to win some games, get some momentum going, and then attack next season with everything we have.
“I’m sure the team, or the squad, will be a little different to what we have now, but I think we’ll have the quality to bounce back. That’s got to be the mentality.
“The mentality is going to be 12 months from now that we’re back in the Premier League, and people just think, ‘Ok, Wolves have just had that one bad year, but now they’re back where they belong’. That should be, and I think it is, the mentality of all of us at the moment.”
