Cardiff fans hit by Henn-mania! WOLVES NEWS Welsh keeper wins over hostile Bluebirds crowd.

Byline: By Paul Berry OUR MAN AT WOLVES

THERE aren't many visiting goalkeepers who pitch up at Ninian Park and avoid being given the (Blue) bird by the merciless Cardiff faithful.

To his great pleasure, Wayne Hennessey proved to be one of the exceptions.

Of course, it helps that the current Wolves number one also holds the same position with the Welsh national side which those Cardiff fans are hoping to see reborn over the next few years.

And while they weren't exactly hailing "one of their own" for the late saves which preserved Wolves' 3-2 win on Wednesday, it wasn't just the travelling contingent leading the songs of "Wales's number one".

"It was nice to get that reception," admitted Hennessey, whose two previous footballing visits to the capital were at the Millennium Stadium for Wales against the Czech Republic and Germany. "It was my first time at Ninian Park, but Cardiff is turning into a good city for me!"

Dubbed "Mr Clean Sheet" by Wolves colleague Matt Murray, Hennessey wasn't quite able to mark his first club appearance in the principality with another shut-out on Wednesday.

Robbie Fowler and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink saw to that. But the 20-year-old took immense satisfaction from a series of excellent late saves, one from Steven Thompson which he counts as one of his best two in a Wolves shirt. The other? That which denied Chris Iwelumo's goalbound header against Charlton seven days ago.

"There was a lot of talk down there in the week about me going for a fifth clean sheet in six games and coming up against the likes of Jimmy Floyd and Robbie," Hennessey added.

"But you can't expect to keep a clean sheet every match and there wasn't much I could do about Robbie's penalty or Jimmy's shot.

"I was pleased though to make some saves, with the one from Steven Thompson coming at a crucial stage of the game when we'd just gone 3-2 ahead."

One area where Hennessey continues to get plenty of practice is in trying to save penalties!

Of the five conceded by Wolves this season he has faced four, and Fowler's effort in midweek kept up a 100 per cent conversion rate.

"I tried to make him change his mind by pretending to go the one way," says Hennessey.

"But he wasn't having it! He's one of the great penalty takers."

Hennessey goes into today's game at Ipswich admitting that, despite having only made his Wolves debut in the play-off dramas with Albion, he is settling into life as the number one at Molineux.

"Now I know all about the players in front of me I feel really comfortable in the team," he explains. "But you always know that there's someone waiting behind you ready to take their chance and here we've got Graham Stack. If I do badly I know I could get dropped and you need that to keep you on your toes."

KILLER STAT

Wayne is one of the few goalkeepers to have actually scored, finding the net with a 40-yard free kick for Wales under-19s against Turkey.

CAPTION(S):

PLAYING FOR KEEPS... Wayne Hennessey.