SAM Ricketts has forecast better days ahead for Wanderers after a vital 1-0 victory over Wolves at the Reebok on Saturday.

Zat Knight’s goal — the Whites’ first in over nine hours of football — was enough to lift Owen Coyle’s side two points clear of the bottom three.

And the Wales international, who was instrumental in a resolute defensive performance, hopes that the result is a sign of things to come. “It wasn’t do or die but we knew that if we could win this one, and a couple more coming up, that we can pull ourselves well clear,” he said.

“With the quality in this squad we shouldn’t be down there but it’s games like this that are a proper grind, and you have to win them. “We created some great chances, enough to be two or three up at half time, but for the first time in a long time we had a bit of luck. And we deserve it. “The league table looks better now, so if we can go on and win next week, then with Wigan the week after that, they are massive games. “Our home form has been good for a while now and that’s the absolute bedrock. It’s got to carry on.”

The fortune Ricketts referred to came in the shape of two Wolves strikes, from David Jones and Matt Jarvis, that cannoned off the inside of Jussi Jaaskelainen’s post. Both sides also had claims for penalties turned down by referee Andre Marriner, leaving the Whites defender happy with his afternoon’s work. “You need luck to win any game and if you look at any of the successful sides, they create their own,” he said. “We have been so unlucky this season, decisions have gone against us for minute little details and have cost us points. It’s just nice to get the three points. Knight scored his first Wanderers goal, and his first in the Premier League for 15 months on the stroke of half time, dedicating the strike to his son Kai on his birthday.

“It was great to get the goal and the timing couldn’t have been much better,” said Ricketts. “We were deservedly in front then and it should have been a few more. “You could see how hard everyone was working, so when the goal went in, it gave us something to hold on to and protect.”