Ward won't rest on his laurels

Ward fired Wolves to a 2-1 win at Ewood Park last weekend but knows he has a fight on his hands from George Elokobi to make the left-back slot his own. Ward, who made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland earlier this summer, said: "Everyone works hard in pre-season and wants to be in the team on the opening day so it was nice to be there. "But I know that it is a long season and everyone will have a part to play. "You look at the squad that we have and it is a lot stronger than last year, so everyone will have a role here. "Yes, it is nice to play on the opening day but there are 37 games to go so there is a lot of hard work needed from everyone." Ward admits he is still on a high from the events at Blackburn going into Sunday's game against Fulham at Molineux. He added: "I couldn't have asked for anything more. "It is a fantastic start to the season for Wolves. I don't think it can get much better than going away from home and winning on the opening day. "We rolled our sleeves up and showed the character that we need to do well in this league and hopefully we can push on from here." While giving Wolves the perfect start to the season, striker Kevin Doyle hopes it has also laid out a marker for the rest of the campaign. Wolves struggled badly last season against the teams around them in the table yet managed to pull off wins against Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. Doyle admits that more success against the teams who are viewed as the Premier League's lesser lights should ensure they avoid another frantic final-day battle for survival. Doyle, who missed from the spot at Blackburn before Ward scored in the melee that followed, said: "Last season, we didn't get many points against the teams who were around us in the table. "So it was nice to put a marker down, and away from home, too. "If we can better our points total of last season we should be well clear of the bottom three and hopefully in mid-table. "We beat Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool last season and yet we were still fighting the drop. "If we had been told that before the start of the season, you would imagine we would be at least safely in mid-table. "But because we lost so many games against the teams around us, we were in a dogfight." Wolves will be facing a Fulham side who were in Europa League action on Thursday but Mick McCarthy is unsure whether that will have any bearing on this game. McCarthy said: "We might be fabulous or they might be really good. "It might have an effect but it wasn't a rough-and-tumble Premier League game. "Nevertheless they have had 90 minutes and we won't know what effect it has until we play on Sunday."