Stephen Ward has hailed Wolves' win at Cardiff as 'massive' and a benchmark for the side in their growing promotion challenge.

The forward went on as a half-time substitute at Ninian Park for Darron Gibson and played his part in turning a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory - which achieved a season's highest League placing of third.

"We needed that because we had been a bit short of away wins," he said. "We started with a great result at Sheffield Wednesday and then had a run that was dominated by draws.

"It's a massive boost to us all. It keeps the unbeaten run going and takes us to the sort of position where we want to be.

"We have set a benchmark with that result. We ground out a few away wins last season and this is another of those."

Stephen, who insists his tendonitis is improving, is now setting his sights on Saturday's visit to Ipswich - a fixture that holds happy memories for him.

The Irishman scored the only goal at Portman Road last winter with a fine opportunist effort and added: "It will be another tough game.

"They have a 100 per cent home record and look to play a bit like we do. But records are meant to be broken and hopefully we are the ones who can break it.

"The mood is very good here because of the run we've been on and I'm sure we've got them talking over at Ipswich with the results we've just had. We will be approaching it the same as we did the game at Cardiff."

Stephen expects to be back in training tomorrow before the squad leave for their overnight base in East Anglia.