Terry Connor feared record loss for Wolves against Arsenal

Terry Connor today admitted he feared a record Premier League defeat by Arsenal as he watched his 10-man

inside 11 minutes at Molineux.

Last night's eventual 3-0 defeat by the Gunners was rock-bottom Wolves' seventh on the spin and left them nine points from safety after wins for Wigan and QPR.

But it could have been a lot worse after Sebastien Bassong saw red for bringing down Theo Walcott in the box after just nine minutes – Robin van Persie netting the resulting penalty – before Walcott doubled the visitors' lead two minutes later.

The writing was already on the wall but Arsenal could only add one more, through Yossi Benayoun (69), and Connor was simply relieved the final score didn't rival Ipswich's 9-0 slaughter by Manchester United in March 1995.

"I took comfort that from going 2-0 down we could have ended up with a real beating and a record defeat in the Premier League," said the boss.

"But the lads were determined for that not to happen and they dug in.

"We got to half-time without conceding any more and were then able to talk through what we wanted to do in the second half.

"They carried that out to the letter and were magnificent. So the spirit is there."