Craddock eyes new deal

Craddock: Happy with fitness and hopes to start talks over a new deal soon

Jody Craddock has set his sights on earning a contract extension at Wolves after declaring himself fully fit.

The 35-year-old's current deal expires in the summer and he has previously admitted that he fears for his future, having missed long periods of this season with hip and thigh problems.

However, he has been playing more regularly over the past few weeks and made his 500th league start in Sunday's 3-1 victory over West Brom.

Craddock believes his injury nightmare is now over and hopes to start talks over a new deal after Wolves' Premier League fate is known later this month.

Asked if he wanted another deal, the defender told the Express & Star: "Of course, I do.

"I feel great. My body feels great. I'm coming off after games and I don't feel injured which is nice.

"At the moment, they've got more important things to worry about than players' contracts.

"It's been frustrating - I've been injured and I've had to sit on the bench a lot.

"That's football. I'm just happy to be there and offer my support.

"Now I've got my opportunity, I just want to try to take it as best as I can."

Intense

Craddock's chances of being offered a new deal are sure to improve if he can play a part in keeping Wolves above the relegation zone.

The weekend win lifted Mick McCarthy's men out of the bottom three and put them in control of their own destiny heading into the final two games of the season.

Victories over Sunderland and Blackburn would ensure survival and Craddock is targeting six points.

"We've put ourselves in a better position for the two games to come," he explained.

"We've got games we can get points from and we need to play the next two games like we've played the one on Sunday.

"Let's go for two wins. They're two games we can win."

Craddock admits the relegation scrap has been different to last season, saying: "It's more intense this time.

"But it's a tough division and nobody said it was going to be easy this season, just because we'd been in it last season.

"We knew how difficult it was going to be."