Sunday 28 December 2014 19:08, UK
Wolves manager Kenny Jackett admitted his side will badly miss forwards Nouha Dicko and Bakary Sako after the duo starred in a pulsating 2-1 Sky Bet Championship win over Brentford at Molineux.
Jackett is braced for the pair to be confirmed in the Mali squad for the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday and he will then lose them after Saturday's FA Cup tie at Fulham.
Dicko's second goal in two games set Wolves on the way to what turned out to be a nerve-wracking victory, in which the lively Sako also starred.
Wolves doubled their advantage when Kevin McDonald's 73rd-minute shot was turned into his own net by Brentford defender James Tarkowski but the Scottish midfielder's dismissal four minutes later, after collecting a second yellow card, sparked a frantic finale.
Wolves captain Danny Batth's 87th-minute own goal set the alarm bells ringing and Jackett's side held on to all three points, although they got lucky when Andre Gray headed against the post in stoppage time.
Jackett was delighted with the win but knows he will have two massive holes to fill should Dicko and Sako join up with the Mali squad.
He said: "The only plus is that the transfer window is open for us to do something about it. They are big players and we understand they have been key for us.
"A lot of our wins have coincided with them playing but we know potentially how long they are going to go for. We know it is coming and it is how we react to cover it."
Jackett, meanwhile, admitted his side got a lucky break as Dicko's goal was offside. He added: "I have seen it again and yes, he was offside.
"We have been on the wrong side of some decisions in recent weeks particularly here - Brighton the referee gave a penalty and then changed his mind, the week before we have Rajiv Van La Parra sent off against Bournemouth and that was rescinded.
"So we have to roll with the punches in terms of refereeing decisions and they do come and go for you during the season.
"It was a great game and it could have gone either way. But the thing that has improved for us after a very bad November is our defending and we have been harder to beat and we gave built off the confidence of that.
"The goals against column has improved and you could see our heart, spirit and organisation. Our defending was very good and it needed to be.
"Today I felt we defended well. We were hard to score against and break down and we had the threat up front as well."
Despite seeing his side crash to back-to-back defeats over Christmas against Ipswich and Wolves, Brentford boss Mark Warburton had nothing but praise for the way his side played at Molineux - but was left cursing Dicko's 'offside' goal.
He said: "You don't mind mistakes because you learn from that or outstanding quality, but the guy is three yards offside.
"Everyone sees it and it is missed again and I am amazed at this level that we keep getting punished in this manner because everyone has seen it.
"I appreciate we have the luxury of seeing replays but you can't make mistakes like that at this level.
"I don't want to sit here and say we were unlucky but I thought that we dominated long spells of the game. We looked dangerous and and I am staggered we have come away with nothing.
"We made some good chances and we have to be more clinical in front of goal. I haven't seen the stats yet but I'm not really sure how we came away with nothing.
"I thought we played really well. We have played a lot worse and come out with something in games.
"But from the first whistle I thought that our intent was clear. We moved the ball quickly and before Kevin McDonald was sent-off I thought we were dominating.
"Then Wolves sat deeper and we had to be clever and keep moving the ball and I thought we did that.
"We looked a real potent threat but we did not test the 'keeper enough.
"To come away from two games with no points is unlike us. But there are a lot of positives today and to lose feels a tough one to swallow. I thought we did more than enough to get a least a point out of the game."
