Wolves manager Mick McCarthy believes his side were on the receiving end of a timely "slice of luck" after beating Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor.Two individual mistakes allowed the visitors to collect an easy three points and enhance their own play-off ambitions at the expense of rivals Burnley.

Wolves took the lead on 13 minutes when striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake released Seyi Olofinjana to place his shot beyond Burnley goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.

The visitors increased their lead two minutes later following a dreadful mistake from Clark Carlisle.

The defender's back pass to Kiraly was too short and resulted in the goalkeeper's clearance rebounding off Michael Gray and bouncing into the empty net.

The nearest Burnley came to pulling a goal back in the opening half was when full-back Graham Alexander saw his shot pushed behind by Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

Wolves made the game safe thanks to a mistake from Kiraly, who failed to hold the shot from Ebanks-Blake and looked back in horror to see the ball trickle over the line.

Burnley's consolation goal arrived 14 minutes from time when striker Ade Akinbiyi scored at the second time of asking after Hennessey had saved his initial effort.

McCarthy said: "We got what we deserved, we were the better side. There is always two sides to every goal. I have been complaining about our mistakes so maybe we got a slice of luck which made a difference. But don't take away from how well we have played.

"We had to win to get back on track and the only thing we have been consistent about is our inconsistency."

Clarets boss Owen Coyle was baffled by his side's error-ridden performance.

"We totally gifted the game to Wolves, there is no doubt about it," he said.

"We can't continue to hand gifts to the opposition week after week. Mental strength is a big quality in football and we did not have enough players with it. We needed people to be mentally stronger and there was a softness about the goals we conceded."

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