'Wolves are here to stay' WOLVES NEWS.

Byline: Brian Dick

RICHARD Stearman has fired a warning to the rest of the Premier League - we're here to stay.

The defender was one of several impressive performers in Wolves' first win of the season on Tuesday.

That came at Wigan where Mick McCarthy's men nicked an early Andy Keogh goal and defended well to claim three vital points.

But with many commentators responding to last Saturday's opening-day defeat with predictions of doom, Stearman thinks Wolves can justify their place in the top flight.

And he also reckons they demonstrated enough at the DW Stadium to suggest they can even go on and prosper.

"I think we've maybe shown the rest of the Premier League that we can perform here and want to stay here," said the former Leicester man, who was 22 yesterday.

"We've got a strong belief in the camp that we are good enough to pick up points at this level and we proved that at Wigan.

"Getting that win has taken a little bit of pressure off because we didn't want to go into another difficult game at Manchester City without any points. So it was a massive three points for us."

It was not only important because they next face the division's biggest spenders but also because it came on the back of the disappointing 2-0 reverse at home to West Ham.

"Man City will be tough but it's going to be similar at every ground we go to and at Molineux as well in that we are going to be underdogs," Stearman admitted.

"We'll thrive off that though and we are going to get in people's faces and make it hard for them to play against us."

Stearman came in after a knee injury to Kevin Foley and was singled out for praise by McCa-rthy.

Hwill retain his place at Eastlands and if he performs well, and Foley meets his target of returning for the Hull game, the Molineux manager could be set for a pleasant selection headache.

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Team spirit: Richard Stearman was delighted with the victory at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday.