Championship leaders Wolves cruised to a 3-0 win over Derby to cement their standing at the summit.
Ebanks-Blake bags a brace for league leaders
Championship leaders Wolves cruised to a 3-0 win over Derby on Tuesday to cement their standing at the summit.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake struck either side of a David Edwards effort to ensure Mick McCarthy's side gave the best possible response to their weekend defeat at Queens Park Rangers.
The victory maintains Wolves' three-point lead over the chasing pack, while Derby have slipped into trouble after tasting defeat on their last three outings.
There was only a minute on the clock when Ebanks-Blake opened the scoring from the penalty spot.
Rams defender Darren Powell was adjudged to have handled the ball after Andrew Keogh flicked Wayne Hennessey's long clearance into the box after just 55 seconds.
It seemed a harsh decision but referee Grant Hegley immediately pointed to the spot.
Cool
Ebanks-Blake coolly placed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner sending Stephen Bywater the wrong way.
It was the former Manchester United trainee's fourth success from the spot this season.
Wolves survived a brief scare in the seventh minute when they failed to clear a low cross from the right-hand side.
The ball broke to Emanuel Villa eight yards out but the Argentinean could not get it out of his feet and was crowded out by defenders.
Ebanks-Blake and Keogh contrived to squander a golden opportunity to increase the home side's lead on the half-hour mark.
Darren Powell's slip allowed Ebanks-Blake to advance goalwards with Martin Albrechtsen in tow.
A reverse pass set-up Keogh on the edge of the box but he rolled his shot agonisingly wide.
Surge
Ebanks-Blake struck a post with a right-footed shot from 12 yards after Michael Kightly's surging run and cut-back from the byline in the 39th minute.
But the second goal that Wolves had been threatening was soon to arrive.
The next attack resulted in Edwards turning and firing an angled shot across Bywater from the edge of the six-yard box after Albrechtsen's attempted headed clearance had fallen into his path.
Ebanks-Blake continued to give Derby problems in the second half and forced Bywater into a smothering save with a low shot after 51 minutes before grabbing his second goal of the game - and his 14th of the season - after an hour.
Keogh's shot from the right-hand side of the area was saved by Bywater's feet but the ball ricocheted back to the Wolves striker, who simply rolled it across the six-yard box for Ebanks-Blake to tap into an empty net.
Derby posed little threat to a well organised Wolves defence, with Michael Mancienne's sliding block to deflect Ruben Zadkovich's 12-yard shot wide being the closest the visitors came to a goal.
