Team spirit will help Wolves overcome blip, insists Ebanks-Blake

Mar 5 2009 by Lisa Smith, Birmingham Post

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake believes it is the indomitable spirit in the Wolverhampton Wanderers camp which has helped the team come through the “blip” which has threatened to rip apart their season.

The England Under 21 striker scored a 73rd-minute penalty to put Wolves back on track at Crystal Palace on Tuesday after a run of only one win in 12 matches.

The former Plymouth Argyle star – now with 22 goals this season – said: “You could see the team spirit at Selhurst Park and I can assure people that has never left the dressing room.

“Results haven’t gone our way in recent weeks and people have speculated but I can guarantee that that team spirit we showed has never left us since the first game of the season.

“And it won’t leave us any time now. When we win games, people buy into it and when we lose, people wonder what’s wrong but we believe in ourselves.”

Ebanks-Blake, the Championships’ current top scorer, added: “We’ll continue to march on. We were fearless and played with passion and heart but also experienced heads against Palace.

“If it was a case of holding the ball up instead of putting it in the box, we did it – we just did the right things, everything fell into place and we won.”

Ebanks-Blake, 22, was full of praise for his strike partner Chris Iwelumo, who himself has scored 15 times this season but who has not found the net since November.

Iwelumo replaced Andy Keogh on a night when torrential wind and rain meant a more direct approach was needed.

“Lumes stepped in and was brilliant – he did a very good job for the team,” Ebanks-Blake recalled. “He was a nuisance, he had a couple of chances and he earned the right to play.”