The old dog still has it!

An excellent performance by club captain Jody Craddock on Saturday has not gone unnoticed by Kevin Doyle.

Super Kev believes Craddock could go on until he is 40;"There's no reason why he shouldn't go on another five, six or seven years".

This is a glowing reference for his club captain and what I have seen of the ex-Sunderland stopper so far this season, I would echo Doyle's thoughts.

Craddock has brought an air of calm to our defence with his experience. Many believed it would have been Mancienne and Zubar at the back for us this season but Mancienne hasn't been up to the task. We can't wait for a player to develop into a Premiership centre-half when we're in a relegation battle. Craddock has stood up and been counted.

Zubar has struggled to adapt in England but he looks at home at right back in kevin Foley's absence. Craddock and Berra at the back works for us. The partnership saw us through the last 10 games of The Championship last season when we gained promotion. They are our best partnership and Craddock clearly enjoys his responsibility of being the older man in the partnership. The experience he has enables him to install confidence in Berra.

A man who has often been down the pecking order and sent out on loan under McCarthy has come back time and time again to prove the stubborn Yorkshireman wrong but Mick has no complaints at the moment;"Jody is far to fit to be having any swansongs. He's doing himself no harm, he's playing very well".

It is ironic how Jody turned in a man-of-the-match performance against the team he was on loan at a couple of years ago. I'm glad he is still at Molineux as Mick revealed how Stoke boss, Tony Pulis wanted to keep the experienced centre-half;"Tony liked him and that's not surprising, because he's been brilliant".

I'm pleased that Mick has kept faith with Craddock because he has come into the team and done a sterling job whenever he has been asked and I think the 34-year old is just the experience we need in defence to keep us up.