Bruce anger at late goal

Steve Bruce was left fuming at Wolves' late equaliser against Birmingham on Saturday.

Blues seemed on course for three points thanks to Gary McSheffrey's goal, but Jody Craddock popped up with a late header to pinch a point.

The goal was not what irked Bruce, rather the build up as he felt the play should have been stopped after Sebastian Larsson went down under challenge from Gary Breen.

Bruce felt either referee Mark Halsey should have stopped play or Wolves put the ball out to let the Swede receive treatment, but the visitors played on and Craddock took advantage to score.

"It is a foul on Larsson," said Bruce. "I am not saying it is a deliberate elbow by Breen but he has gone down with a head injury. In those circumstances the opposition or the referee usually stop play.

"We suffer the repercussions of that, the cross from the corner comes into the area at the near post where Larsson would be defending and we have paid the price.

"I spoke to the referee (Mark Halsey) and said that usually with a head injury the game is stopped.

"He said he didn't think Larsson had a head injury. That is why he is rolling on the floor with his head in his hands - he had a bad ankle!"

Bruce's Wolves counterpart Mick McCarthy had a different view on the incident.

"There are two minutes to go and Larsson has stayed down," said McCarthy.

"There might be an element of him trying to stop the game and take any sting out of it.

"Everyone has done that. I didn't see any blood coming out of him. I didn't see a broken nose or him rubbing his jaw. I understand Steve is fed up because he's seen two points slip away.

"But I don't give a damn about what happened in the build-up. We have scored away from home and got a point away from home."