A solitary strike from Michael Kightly was enough to hand Wolves a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Five-point lead for McCarthy's men
A solitary strike from Michael Kightly was enough to hand Wolves a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
The hard-fought victory sees Mick McCarthy's men pull five points clear at the top of the Championship.
Forest, meanwhile, remain inside the bottom three after suffering a third consecutive defeat.
A 5,300 strong Wolves following were in good voice from the off but there was nothing on the pitch during the opening 15 minutes to keep them entertained.
The visitors wasted a good chance to take the lead in the 18th minute courtesy of the first glimpse of creativity in the encounter.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake cleverly flicked a ball into the path of the onrushing Kightly but he took far too long trying to work an angle on the edge of the penalty area and was eventually dispossessed.
Ebanks-Blake fired over not long after but both defences were well and truly on top during the opening quarter.
And neither keeper was called upon to make a real save of note after that as the first half was brought to a tame close.
Forest started the second half on the front foot but it did not last long.
Threat
McCarthy introduced Andy Keogh in place of Stephen Ward in the 54th minute in an attempt to bring more of an attacking threat out of his side.
But the start of the second half failed to deliver in much the same way as the opening 45 minutes.
On-loan Birmingham winger Gary McSheffrey fired over from the edge of the
penalty area in the 65th minute during a rare Reds attack.
Both benches could sense one goal would settle the clash and that forced Davies to bring on Nathan Tyson and Garath McCleary, while McCarthy turned to Sam Vokes and David Edwards.
And the latter double substitution worked wonders.
Ebanks-Blake picked up the ball 20 yards from goal and drove down the right side of the penalty area before squaring the ball across the six-yard line to Vokes.
He kept his marker at bay before laying the ball off to Kightly who fired a low drive past the despairing Iain Turner and into the corner to send the visiting fans and the away bench into raptures.
Ebanks-Blake then saw an effort cleared off the line by Joel Lynch while Keogh's speculative 45-yard effort flew over the bar.
But it did not matter as McCarthy greeted the final whistle with a pumped fist to the air.
