The players celebrate Stearman's extra-time winner

A Richard Stearman goal was enough to ensure Wolves squeezed passed Southend in the second round of the Carling Cup. But having squandered the lead given to them by Nenad Milijas from the penalty spot, they needed extra time to see off the plucky League Two outfit.

I wasn’t at the game so I can’t really assess individual performances but based on the scoreline, I can only surmise that it wasn’t a sparkling team effort from our second string. Anyone who did go, please chip in with feedback in the comment section below.

What I can say is that I would have been gutted to have seen us limp out in the early stages of a competition I feel we have every chance of doing well in this season. A good cup run is certainly long overdue.

Of course, while that was going on, Andy Keogh was putting the finishing touches on a season-long loan move to Cardiff. Here’s what Mick McCarthy said about the striker’s move following last night’s match:

“It’s a racing certainty that Andy will be going to Cardiff.”

“He didn’t want to be cup tied and Cardiff didn’t want him to be cup tied and it was a chance for us to give Ashley Hemmings a game.

“Andy has been fabulous here both for me and this football club.

“It’s a good move for him to go to Cardiff and good luck to him.

“He wants to play football and doesn’t want to be fourth in line here which I can fully understand.

“It was my decision to let him go but he goes with our best wishes and warmest regards.”

What surprises me about this move is that Cardiff already have a wealth of strikers on their books, with Chopra, Bothroyd and Bellamy the preferred trio. It seems entirely plausible that Keogh could become their fourth choice, unless he knows something I don’t. Regardless, good luck to him.

Anyway, with Keogh seemingly now out of the picture, I’ll be staggered if the transfer window shuts and we haven’t brought in another striker to compliment the three we have on the books.

The rumour circulating last night was that Michael Mancienne was close to completing a move to Wolves as a replacement for Keogh in the 25-man squad. And while I’d be happy to welcome the Chelsea-man back, whether it be in a loan deal or permanently, I can’t help but feel we’d be left short in the attacking third.

Caleb Folan from Hull has been linked with Wolves in recent weeks, so perhaps something will develop on that front.

Looking at the three forwards we have, I can’t shake the suspicion that Mick will want a more physical option to throw on in games where it’s difficult to get the ball down and play. If that is the case, I wouldn’t mind seeing us make a move for someone like Jason Roberts at Blackburn. Not the most technically gifted player around, but a proven threat at Premiership level and destined for the exit door from Ewood Park this month.

So a busy 24 hours and some interesting developments around Molineux.

What do we all think?

Most hypothetical scenarios thrown at you and your mates usually end in some kind of consensus after a beer and a chinwag don’t they?

When it comes to the Wolves, people can throw any proposition my way and I can swat it away like a Matt Prior cover drive. When I’m with friends, we all swat it away and generally arrive at a unanimous verdict.

I wonder what Mick would say?

This one however, is different. And no amount of rational discourse over a bag of scratchings could lead me and my friends to a comfortable conclusion.

See what you think folks…

So a Portsmouth fan – who is known for taking centre stage in our little social circle – triumphed again after the Stoke City game in the Clarendon, where he asked us if we’d take eight years of what he has just had, with the one condition that it ends in relegation at the end of it all.

So the deal is: An FA Cup final win, an FA Cup final appearance, European football including AC Milan at the Molineux, and a collection of some of the best players in the club’s recent history over the course of the period.

Also thrown into the mix are regular, virtually guaranteed spankings of our arch rivals, a brand of football for purists to purr over, and some atmospheres and memories to tell the grandkids about. Let’s not forget winning at Old Trafford and Spurs in the semi-final, as well as a load of others in between.

The one condition is that it ends, after eight years, in relegation.

Would you take it? Or, would you take eight years similar to the one we have just had where we carefully build, stabilise and supplement our admirable young squad as we go?

Mr Portsmouth’s conundrum is probably as much a commentary about the Beautiful Game itself, and the expectations and romance that comes with it compared with, say 30 years ago, when anything seemed possible.

He is basically arguing thus: Where is the fun in following a Premiership side whose odds will long be stacked against them, while an elite band of clubs always challenge for honours every single year?

With that in mind, isn’t the prospect of an FA Cup final win at Wembley too alluring to turn down? Remember how such successes in 1949 and 1960 shaped our own club’s history. Remember what the competition means to Sir Jack. I’ve even got an original gold-tinted ‘It’s Ours’ Sporting Star framed on my wall from the final against Leicester!

After a few too many Carlings I arrived at my conclusion, and I’m sticking by it.

Like most things in life, football evolves. So too do expectations and outlooks. So I gratefully consider Mr Portsmouth’s enticing offer and hand it back to him.

Instead, I opt for eight years of stability, growth, and fighting like hell against the odds to stay in the league no doubt.

Why? Because this way, our great club will be in the strongest position ever to give my little boy years of enjoyment at the right end of the football hierarchy, along with every other Wolf cub of his generation. No 4th division for them!

We would have honoured the principles that we were founded on in 1877 and would be in the strongest financial position to make our long-term future a resounding success.

The fact the FA Cup matters little these days – thanks to Manchester United’s revolting snub in 2000 – is sad. The fact the Premier League’s riches matter more, and that we barely stand a chance of winning it, is also sad.

But like I say, football evolves and we act accordingly. I’ll take eight more years of what we’re getting, with the hope that the following 80 could then be something to really make Portsmouth fans jealous of.

What do you think?

Keogh - heading for the exit?

I’ve only ever had my loyalty and love of the Wolves questioned on one occasion.

That came on Tuesday August 18 2009 after we’d secured our first ever away win in the Premiership, courtesy of a faint Andy Keogh header in the far corner.

For one fan, whose name I forget, it appeared to matter little that we’d beaten Wigan, but far more important to ram it down my throat that Keogh had ‘proved me wrong’ before advising me to tootle off to the Hawthorns for the foreseeable future. (Well, you get the gist)

I wonder what he’d make things now, after Keogh’s Molineux career appeared to come full circle against Stoke City on Saturday afternoon.

If you want to avoid questions about your parentage and supporting credentials, it might be best to keep your opinions to yourself.

I’ll stick my head above the parapet for the sake of a blog and a good old chinwag.

On Saturday afternoon, Keogh was a disturbing ghost of Molineux past, putting in the most lifeless, listless and utterly dangerous performance seen since Gordon Brown met that bigoted Rochdale woman on the election trail.

It’s always been something of an irony that Keogh is so well mannered and unassuming when at the very same time he is causing a near civil war amongst hundreds of fans.

If you are a fan of Keogh’s, you see the bigger picture. You’re a purist. If you’re not, you must surely sit in the South Bank and drag your knuckles along Waterloo Road, apparently.

So why is it that this one player has divided so much opinion like no other player I can ever remember playing for Wolves?

Maybe it’s because Keogh always was a hard worker. He always used to cover more blades of grass than any other striker in just about any other league and was selfless to a fault. He could make you feel tired just watching him, and proud to have his name on the back of your shirt.

If only he could repeat his heroics away at Sheffield Wednesday, home to Hull City and home to QPR (to name but three games), when John Gregory positively pined for a player of his ilk in an after-match press conference.

If only he could cover the Britannia Stadium pitch like 2007/08, while Freddy Eastwood idly watched on with his hands on his hips. I could have cried for him that day.

For me, his inability to hit cow’s arse with a banjo has never mattered much. He was utter tripe in front of goal when he first came. He’s still utter tripe in front of goal now.

It is more his apologetic, hunched demeanor that has worried me for the past two years, when even a lengthy run in a successful, goal-laden team couldn’t rouse him from an on-field paralysis.

Maybe Pro-Zone would prove me wrong, but he now seems to have run through his Molineux career to stand still, offering none of his brilliant defensive work from the front.

When coupled with a goal ratio of about 1 in 6, it’s a wonder he’s still here now. With an aching chasm in our forward line and the need for 25 quality squad men, maybe he won’t be for much longer.

If that’s the case, then we should toast him for the gut-busting good times and not the shadow of a man we’re seeing today.