STEVE Cotterill hopes those who quickly wrote off John Oster are now enjoying a huge slice of humble pie.

The former Sunderland winger is finding his feet again at Burnley following an ignominious exit at Sunderland in the New Year.

Welsh international Oster, 26, was the shining light in the weekend win over Rotherham United, which sends Burnley to Wolves tonight in good heart.

And Cotterill never had any doubt the wing wizard would emerge from a personal nightmare to silence his snipers.

"As I said when John came here, he is a good player," insisted the Burnley manager. "I'm very pleased for him because he's had a bit of a tough time lately, but the one thing he is, is a good footballer.

"He ended up getting knocked and pilloried for his first two games and it's amazing how people can be wrong when they want to jump to conclusions. I know a couple of people who had a pop at John, and, to be fair to them, they have since held their hands up."

"It's probably the nature of society now to judge people too quickly."

Oster will be looking to continue where he left off at Molineux tonight against a Wolves side unbeaten in nine league games. New manager Glenn Hoddle has stopped the rot that finally cost Cotterill's pal Dave Jones his job last November with Wanderers sitting in 20th position, just three points away from the Championship relegation places.

An amazing 11 draws in 15 league games under Hoddle has, however, limited their progress, although the former England manager admits he still has one eye on a top six finish.

And Cotterill admits he is surprised to see Wolves sitting so far off the pace with games fast running out.

He explained: "I actually tipped Wolves at the start of the season because I thought they might get promoted.

"I think they've arguably got the strongest, biggest and best squad in the Championship and some very, very good players. I don't know what to expect tonight because I've never come up against Glenn before, but we know it will be a tough game for us. Wolves are a big club and most games we play at the moment are against clubs that are bigger than us.

"If you look upon it support-wise, we are down in something like 18th in the league and that nearly always dictates how big your club is because it dictates your budget and what players you can and can't have.

"If you look below us at the sides who potentially could go out of the division - up or down - and then look at the ones who could come up, then I don't think we will even be 18th next season and that is a worry."