Wolves boss Mick McCarthy reckons Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle is worth every penny the Premier League new boys paid for him. Doyle grabbed his third goal of the season to set up Wolves’ impressive 1-1 draw at Everton, a game where they arguably did enough to have won.

Russian recruit Diniyar Bilyaletdinov ultimately denied Wolves victory but McCarthy took plenty of positives from the trip to Merseyside, not least the performance of Doyle, who moved to Molineux from Reading in the summer.

He said: “Doyle has been a ‘signature’ signing of the summer, our big signing. And he has proved to be worth every single penny of the money we paid.

“He is a terrific player and has started to score goals. There will be more, I am delighted with him.”

McCarthy was philosophical about the outcome, but was less than impressed by referee Stuart Attwell’s decision to send off Austrian substitute Stefan Maierhofer in the dying minutes, describing it as “harsh bordering on the downright disgraceful”.

The former Rapid Vienna man was first booked after a tangle with Tim Cahill and was then shown a second yellow after an incident involving Toffees goalkeeper Tim Howard, in which the American appeared to have committed the more serious offence.