Monday 1 September 2014 11:40, UK
Wolves manager Kenny Jackett heaped praise on winger Bakary Sako after his brace helped propel the side to a 3-1 Sky Bet Championship win against Blackburn at Molineux.
Wolves manager Kenny Jackett heaped praise on winger Bakary Sako after his brace helped propel the side to a 3-1 Sky Bet Championship win against Blackburn at Molineux.
Sako scored twice after Nouha Dicko had broken the deadlock as Wolves recorded a fourth win from five games on their return to the Championship.
Blackburn briefly raised their hopes when Jordan Rhodes made it 2-1 from the spot but Wolves were not to be denied a victory in the game that the club had chosen to celebrate 125 years of league football at Molineux.
Jackett is determined that the highly-prized Sako will still be at Molineux when the transfer window shuts at 11pm on Monday and he said: "Sako has been really good in my time here I have always generally picked him which is a reflection of what a manager thinks of a player.
"I think he is a very good player. I think he is a very good character. They will be the two things in my time here that I will judge him on.
"He is popular with the crowd and I didn't think when I came in 14 months ago he was one of the ones that really needed a fresh start.
"I felt he was well thought of and in the season that they went down he had a good year in the Championship.
"He is not someone that are looking to try to sell. To do business at this time is unrealistic as well.
"Over the last couple of seasons there have been different rumours but it is not something we are looking to entertain.
"Sako, Dicko and Rajiv Van La Parra has been a productive front three for us and they have looked dangerous and combined well and if we can keep up this good work then we will be very happy."
Jackett is keen to strengthen his squad with a new striker before Monday night but revealed Wolves were unable to agree a with the French club Tours, for striker Andy Delort, who is poised to join Wigan.
Jackett added: "We put a bid in for Andy Delort but we weren't been able to close that deal. It was a considerable bid."
Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer, who has confirmed a deal is in place to sign Everton central defender Shane Duffy, was disappointed by the manner of the goals that his side conceded.
He said: "We came to a difficult place with a very good manager against a well-organised team and I thought that we had a lot of the play.
"We were disappointed with the manner of the goals that the conceded and there were one or two incidents leading up to the second that we felt let down by.
"We lost our striker Rudy Gestede with a knee injury this morning and we had to change the way that we play a little but the players took the challenge on very well.
"I think we had a lot of the ball, especially in the second-half where Wolves were playing on the counter.
"But goals change matches and we conceded three soft ones in our opinion."
Bowyer is determined to strengthen his squad and he added: "I think you will always miss someone of Rudy's physical presence and his ability. We are stretched with numbers and we only have four missing.
"So it just shows you the need to get one or two more bodies in and unfortunately we got disappointed in that area yesterday evening.
"But we will keep working hard to try and get more bodies in to help."
As for the deal for Duffy, Bowyer added: "We think that is all done now.
"He fits the model in terms of what we are trying to bring in.
"He is going to add some height and physical presence to us which we probably just missed a little bit today."
