First Division: Wolves 2 - 1 Reading
"Wolves are only one up at half-time and there is still everything to play for," Reading's manager Alan Pardew said on Saturday evening. "I would not make them favourites on Wednesday because we're going to put them under pressure and we'll see how well they deal with that.
"If someone had said I was going to go to Molineux and then asked me what I would want to take away from it, I would have said to get a draw or even to lose by one goal would not be bad."
For an hour on Saturday Wolves, confronted by Reading's suffocating 4-5-1 formation, huffed and puffed ineffectively. Then Reading's lone striker Nicky Forster, who had given them the lead after 25 minutes, limped off and five minutes later Shaun Newton, sufficiently recovered from the migraine which had stopped him from training in the week and prevented him starting, was introduced. From that point Dave Jones' side finally justified their status as pre-match favourites.
Newton's arrival, a second winger to complement Mark Kennedy, gave Wolves the width their 4-3-3 starting formation had denied them and Reading, their ceaseless running and harrying taking its toll, began to wilt.
In fairness to Pardew's team, however, Wolves also enjoyed some good fortune. And they were aided by the exit of Forster, whose pace was a constant menace. "The game changed when he went off," Pardew said. "It proved a major turning point. And they also got the luck they needed."
That good fortune manifested itself when Newton's shot deflected off Nick Shorey and Graeme Murty before passing Marcus Hahnemann to equalise. There was an element of a wrong being righted about it, too. Newton's chance came about only because a clumsy challenge by Adrian Williams on Paul Ince failed to result in what seemed an obvious penalty award.
That, though, was typical of an erratic performance by the referee Alan Kaye, his eccentricities underlined by the harsh dismissal of Nathan Tyson, Forster's replacement, in stoppage time.
Yet even though this was an off-colour display by Wolves, Reading needed heroics from Hahnemann to restrict the hosts to a one-goal advantage when the sides reconvene at the Madejski Stadium on Wednesday for the second leg.
It used to be said that, if Yorkshire wanted a fast bowler, all they had to do was to whistle down a mineshaft and one would come along. For those in need of a goalkeeper these days it appears possession of a voice that will carry the Atlantic is a necessity.
Hahnemann, like Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller, is from the States and his acrobatic saves that foiled Kenny Miller and George Ndah would have met with the approval of his compatriots in the Premiership.
"We did not play well," said Jones, "but their goalkeeper made three superb saves to stop us winning by more. At the end we had them on the ropes, though, and that's a credit to our players."
Wolves did not have to go far to find their two most impressive players, as Lee Naylor and Joleon Lescott are both products of the club's youth system.
Naylor adorned an impressive performance by thumping home the free-kick that earned the victory and Lescott, a commanding presence at the back, also made his mark in attack, not least when the young centre-half nutmegged Murty during a foray in to Reading's half.
And so to the Madejski Stadium where Wolves, who seem more at ease in away games, have already won this season. "It's the biggest game ever staged at our stadium and it will be a tough night for Wolves," Pardew said. "They needed a lead but we're in good form there. We bashed Preston and beat Forest recently and Wolves have still got a lot to do."
On this evidence there is no doubting that.