Soccer:Republic of Ireland international Kevin Doyle believes two more wins should guarantee Wolves another season in the Premier League and insisted: "When we play well, we can get points against anyone."
Doyle turned in another outstanding performance for Mick McCarthy’s side in their 3-1 success over West Ham at Upton Park last night. He scored his seventh goal of the campaign and again excelled as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.
Victory moved Wolves seven points clear of the bottom three - the number of points they have picked up from a trio of successive away games with Burnley, Aston Villa and the Hammers.
Doyle said: “We’ve beaten Tottenham twice and drawn with Villa twice this season, two good teams fighting for fourth spot in the Premier League.
“It shows when we play well, we can get points against anyone. We have confidence now and we can see ourselves creeping towards that 36-38 points, whatever is going to be needed.
“We were determined to put in a similar performance at West Ham as against Villa at the weekend.
“Before we’d done quite well at times against teams quite high up - like Villa – but then the week after have come up against teams we should have picked something up from and struggled a bit.”
Doyle added: “We are not safe yet but every point helps. We’ve got another chance on Saturday (against Everton). It’s been a big week for us and it would be nice to be unbeaten come the end of it.
“We need another couple of wins but the last 10 days, from Burnley away to the West Ham result, has made a big, big difference to our chances.
“It has really put a bit of daylight between us and the rest.”
Doyle has willingly taken on the mantle of the only striker although he admits it makes it harder to score goals.
He said: “We’ve had a similar team, same formation for a while now, and it has been paying off recently.
“It has not been easy. It has been tough. But it is a system a lot of teams are operating with now so it’s been good to be able to learn how to play it.
“It can be a bit bruising but I’m enjoying it. I’ve just been trying to add a few goals but it is not easy.
“You often end up chasing things to the corner flag, winning the ball and laying it off.
“Trying to keep yourself in the box is not easy when (you have) one up front but the system seems to suit us.
“Maybe away from home it suits us even more because the onus is on the home teams to attack us and maybe we can catch them on the break a bit. That is something to do with it.”
Wolves were always in control at Upton Park once Doyle had produced a clinical piece of finishing.
He said: “We were really confident. I think anyone who saw the game at Villa at the weekend would have been confident we could get something.
“Upton Park is a great place. If they are winning there, the fans here are so passionate and that can work against you when things aren’t going so well.
“We knew if we got ahead, with the run they’ve been on, it would make if difficult for them.”