Whilst supporters will fondly look back on champagne victories at White Hart Lane and Upton Park, I suspect our manager will be equally satisfied with the clutch of dour nil nil draws we’ve ground out to add vital points to our tally.

View from the away end (click to expand)

Yesterday was another exercise in restraint from Wolves, containing Fulham comfortably for the most part but struggling to piece together any real attacks of note themselves. It’s certainly wasn’t easy on the eye, but as we close in on our ultimate goal for the campaign, none of the old gold contingent gathered in the Putney End gave two hoots.

The players were cheered off as heroes, shirts were tossed into the crowd and all round there seemed a shared consensus that this season will now have a happy ending. Just as well any complacency that might be setting in, has been confined solely to the stands.

All eleven players contributed to this gritty, dogged performance, which demonstrated this team won’t rest until the maths tell them they can.

The brightest star undoubtedly shone from an unexpected place – left back. Big George was quite simply superb from start to the finish, staying rock-solid and saving our bacon with a last ditch tackle to deny Damian Duff and almost certain goal. The Hulk looked anything but a weak link on this evidence and it was pleasing to see the highly criticised defender show the levels he’s capable of reaching.

Another player with a question mark hanging over his head also upped his game. Christophe Berra was at his best, repelling everything that came near him, shackling Bobby Zamora and most crucially, throwing his body in front of a Damian Duff shot midway through the first half. When you’re defending your penalty area and the game isn’t stretched, the Scottish international is in his element and a major asset to the cause. Nobody can deny that.

Zubar and Craddock continued to meet the standards they’ve set for a long time now and were both exceptional. The midfield trio were more effective than impressive with Mancienne perhaps most prominent, sitting in front of the back four and showing great discipline throughout to hold his position.

Jones got on the ball when he could and pulled the strings, but struggled to really get into areas where he could cause damage. The same could be said of Dave Edwards, the man who literally never stops running. Despite one foray into the Fulham area that saw him smash a right foot volley narrowly over the bar, he was largely ineffective despite bags of effort and enthusiasm. I’d still prefer to see a more cultured, measured midfielder in that slot, so perhaps Guedioura or Milijas will be given the nod against Blackburn, as both looked lively when they were introduced from the bench.

Foley and Jarvis did what they always do, with the latter always a great outlet. A couple of times in the second half he sprinted forward dangerously but was never given a good enough pass to get in behind. As a result, Doyle was starved of any decent service and despite a clever snapshot just before half-time, he never threatened the Fulham goal. His overall play was still impressive, although he wasn’t at his devastating best, as he hasn’t been for a few weeks. If he’s tired, I’m certainly not surprised.

With Burnley losing and Hull only able to manage a draw, the point Wolves took back to Molineux was certainly an important one and it sets up the prospect of finishing the job against Blackburn next Saturday.

And after so much talk this season about Wolves doing the minimum to stay up, wouldn’t it be nice to take care of business with two games to spare?

Sounds lovely doesn’t it? What could possibly go wrong?

Wolves beat Fulham 2-1 at Molineux earlier this season

Well, there’s been some horrors shows there too, most recently that gut-wrenching last minute defeat to Arsenal. We also suffered our most humiliating moment of the campaign at Crystal Palace in that fourth round replay, as well as a 4-0 battering at the hands of Chelsea.

It’s also worth noting that Fulham have won 10 of their 16 home games to date, drawing four and losing just two. Quite remarkable really and just as well seeing as they’ve mustered only one win on the road all season.

Still feeling confident?

Well, maybe you should be. After all, Wolves have the best away form of anyone in the bottom half, so if anyone can go to fortress Craven Cottage and leave with a positive result, it’s us.

Fulham also have the small matter of a Europa Cup semi-final first leg against Hamburg the following Thursday, so it would be no great surprise to see them rest one or two of their better players. Roy Hodgson did exactly that at Hull a few weeks ago, losing the game but escaping punishment from the Premier League (don’t worry, I’m not going there).

Wolves should still be full of confidence after recent performances and happy to play their natural game. Fulham are ‘get it down and pass it’ kind of side, so I expect the match to be played out in stark contrast to the volleyball session we shared with Rory Delap last Sunday.

The starting XI will probably be exactly the same as the team that took to the field against Stoke, which is:

Hahnemann

Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Elokobi

Foley
Edwards
Mancienne
Jones
Jarvis

Doyle

I still feel Guedioura can count himself incredibly unlucky to find himself sitting on the sidelines, after largely impressive performances in his first few months with the club. Maybe he’ll get the nod ahead of Edwards this weekend? I suspect not.

Could there also be a return to the 4-4-2? We played most of the second half against Stoke with that formation and as we really only need one win to keep us up, a more attack-minded approach could be in the pipeline. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Iwelumo given a chance to bounce a few defenders around and give Doyle some much needed support.

I genuinely believe Wolves have got a chance in this one, despite Fulham’s intimidating home record and if we play as well as we can do, there’s no reason we can’t get a result.

I’m going for it: 2-1 to Wolves.

If you’re making the journey down south, have a great time and get behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

* A quick apology for the lack of posts this week. Time has been at a premium. It does give me a good opportunity though to invite anyone who might be interested in contributing to Wolves Blog to email me. Whether it’s a one-off article or a more regular spot, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Despite having to hang on towards the end, we were good value for this win after a strong team showing, littered with impressive individual performances.

Kevin Doyle - Off the mark

Kevin Doyle opened the scoring and his Wolves’ account with a fine reaction header. He was a bright spark throughout and showed some real touches of class. Hopefully more to come from our record signing.

Castillo was strong and influential on his debut. OK, he’s not exactly Pele but he breaks the play up and adds a much needed physical presence to the midfield.

Dave Edwards also deserves a mention for a performance full of endeavour, capped with a second-half bullet that put Wolves two to the good. Can he keep his place in the team, given Kightly is back in action and Jarvis continues to look a threat?

Our much maligned defence stepped up their game, giving nothing away apart from the slightly dubious penalty that allowed Danny Murphy to bring Fulham back into the match. Berra was particularly impressive, crunching into tackles and heading absolutely everything away. He was probably my man of the match.

Hennessy was quite simply immense, handling flawlessly and plucking crosses out of the air for fun. When he commands his area, like he did today, he looks the complete package. Let’s hope he continues to improve and progress.

The real bonus ball was the return of Kightly and SEB. Neither had much time to make an impact, but just having them out on the pitch seemed to give everyone a lift. I expect both to continue their comeback with a start against Man Utd on Wednesday.

So it’s happy days again. We move onto Old Trafford with renewed confidence and nothing to lose. Whatever the outcome against the champions, we can at least enjoy the week knowing we’re nicely back on track.

* I’d like to draw attention to the fact I correctly predicted the outcome, the scoreline and the first scorer in this match. I also predicted the outcome and scoreline from the Blackburn match. Feel free to lavish me with praise, but more importantly, make sure you read my Man Utd preview to see If I can make it a hat-trick.

From a Wolves’ perspective, we need to bounce back quickly after a weak performance against Blackburn and three points at home would be a great way to lift spirits. Returning stars will undoubtedly help our cause but it remains to be seen how many changes McCarthy will make to the starting XI.

McCarthy & Hodgson - Two former international coaches clash on Sunday

If you’re in the Fulham camp, a successful season last time out will have you believing your team can go to places like Molineux and win convincingly. However, much of their success has come at home with their record on the road slighlty more indifferent. So that leaves this game nicely poised in my opinion.

They’ve undoubtedly got some great players. People like Murphy, Duff and Johnson are no mugs at this level and have the kind of experience nobody in our squad can boast. But probably their most important player is Hangeland, who holds a very strong defence together. There was interest in him from Arsenal over the summer, which highlights just how good this powerful defender is and just how vital he’s become to Roy Hodgson’s team.

But Fulham are really more of a good, honest group of players than a team of superstars, so for that reason I think Wolves can stand toe-to-toe with them and maybe even come out on top. I think we might have the legs on them so hopefully the longer the game goes on, the better our chances should become, especially as they played on Thursday in the Europa League.

Whether or not we get a result depends greatly on the side McCarthy picks. I hope he has the good sense to make major changes to the side that flopped against Blackburn. That being said, this is the side I think we’ll see:

Hennessy

Stearman
Mancienne
Craddock
Hill

Kightly
Henry
Milijas
Jarvis

Keogh
Doyle

But it’s a guessing game really. Could the Hoff force his way in? Will Foley or SEB make a shock appearance? Might Edwards be given the nod ahead of Milijas? Lots of variations, which might drastically alter my forecasted eleven.

Anyone else want to take a stab at the line-up?

Whatever the team though, we’re desperate for one of our attacking players to put in a performance. Milijas and Doyle have both shown promising glimpses without really turning it on, so perhaps it’s time for one of those two to step up to the mark.

Call me optimistic but I’ve got a good feeling about this match and believe we have a great chance of taking something from it. I’m going for a 2-1 win and Doyle to score the first goal.

Now that really would be a Super Sunday.

Up The Wolves.