Managers pay tribute to Doyle

Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle has earned special praise for his late double save on Saturday.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy and his Birmingham counterpart Chris Hughton both singled out Doyle after he earned his side an FA Cup replay.

In a game of few chances the goalkeeper showed he was still alert to tip Matt Jarvis’s injury-time shot on to the post before getting up quickly to block Steven Fletcher’s header from the rebound.

The double save meant the match ended goalless and both teams will meet again at Molineux to decide who progresses through to the fourth round.

McCarthy paid tribute to the man who had stopped his Wolves team while Hughton said his brilliance had kept the Blues in the cup.

“I never felt we’d snatched it until the ball was in the net,” McCarthy told reporters.

“I think the game was going to be decided on something daft, a mistake, a fabulous bit of football, something brilliant.”

“Actually the result was decided on something brilliant, almost a brilliant goal with Jarvis’s strike but equally two brilliant saves from that and from Fletcher’s header. He’s kept the tie a stalemate.”

“We’ve played 4-4-2. I haven’t come and played for a draw.

“I’ve got two wingers on the pitch, two strikers on the pitch. But Birmingham play 4-5-1 or whatever way you want to do it, but they’ve had a very tight midfield, they made it difficult for us to play and I think they’re tough and particularly difficult to score against.”

Hughton, meanwhile, was also quick to praise Doyle but admitted he was disappointed with the result.

“Yes, yes he (kept us in the cup). That’s the thing with goalkeepers they cannot be too troubled for most of the game which I think was the case but we certainly needed him at the moment,” he said.

“We’re disappointed today because yes we’re at home, I still think Wolves as the Premier League team coming here there’s still perhaps more pressure on them to win here than ourselves, but certainly we could have done without the fixture with the amount of games we’ve got coming up.”

“But we’re delighted we’re still in the competition. We didn’t play much to our maximum today, I think Wolves didn’t either.”

“A draw was certainly a fair result and I think if they got the goal at the end it would have been unjust because I don’t think they deserved to win.”

Wolves were rocked by an injury to Roger Johnson in the first-half, with the former Birmingham defender having to be replaced by Kevin Foley in defence.

But McCarthy allayed fears that his captain had suffered a serious injury and said he will be back for next week.

“He rocked his ankle yesterday, as he landed (today) he rocked it again. He wanted me to give it five minutes but I wasn’t prepared.”

“Had he just done it then, then maybe I would, but having done it yesterday and today…if you damage a ligament you can be out for a month, six weeks.”

“But he’s fine, he’ll be back next week.”