Wolves 0 Wanderers 2

SURPRISE guy Mike Whitlow sported a beaming smile after a triumphant return at Molineux and admitted: "I might not play on Sunday but at the moment I feel like a kid in a sweetie shop!

"All I want now is for Preston to do us a favour and beat Blackburn tonight."

That's the next exciting phase of the dream scenario that could ultimately lead to Wanderers defying the odds and dramatically pipping Rovers at the post for the second automatic promotion slot.

It might not go to Sunday's final day if the men from Ewood win at Deepdale tonight against a North End team already guaranteed a play-off place and rumoured to be significantly weakened by injury and fatigue.

But Wanderers showed at Wolves last night that, although they can't control events elsewhere, they have no intention of making life easy for Graeme Souness and proved again that whoever is called upon is prepared to fight for the cause.

Whitlow, sidelined since January 20 when he tore a stomach muscle in the 3-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, was only told he was playing two hours before kick off. But he was singled out by Sam Allardyce for answering the SOS after Colin Hendry and Paul Warhurst were ruled out by illness and injury.

"He's been missing for four months yet he played the 90 minutes as though he'd never been out of the side," the manager said. "That was important for us because it meant we didn't miss two big players we've had this season."

Whitlow, whose season has been ravaged by injury, made the most of his chance but will be happy to stand aside if Hendry is well enough to face Sheffield United on Sunday.

"Hopefully Colin will be fit and will be magnificent and I won't be needed," he said unselfishly. "I've had a season that's just never got going - that was only my sixth League game - but the rest of the lads have been fantastic. It was a shock to me that I was in the team. I expected Ian Marshall to play. But I'm just glad I've been involved and getting a win makes it even better."

Blackburn might struggle to convince everyone that they really are the second best team in Division One but, if they do win at Preston to secure runners-up spot, they will prove one thing - they've got bottle.

Because Wanderers turned up the heat to unprecedented levels when they passed their own character test with stunning professionalism and burgeoning confidence at Molineux.

And if Graeme Souness and his Rovers can handle the pressure ... well, good luck to them.

It just doesn't seem fair that Wanderers could end the season on 89 points and still have to settle for the play-offs. But that's a distinct possibility since the men from Ewood effectively need only two more points from their remaining two games (they go to Gillingham on Sunday) to be certain of joining Fulham in the Premiership.

Should that happen - and the odds are still in Blackburn's favour - then Allardyce, his players and their supporters will torture themselves with thoughts of what might have been!

But they can take great heart and draw tremendous encouragement from knowing that, since that costly defeat at Crewe two weeks ago, they have done everything asked of them. Three games, three wins ... no goals conceded.

"They are playing without too much pressure," Allardyce suggested after a goal in each half from Dean Holdsworth and Michael Ricketts added Wolves to the list of victims on an away record that has ended: won 14, drawn 5, lost 4. "They've fully recovered from the hiccup we had seven or eight games ago to put together a sequence of games that is turning into win, after win, after win.

"It'll be a crying shame if there's nothing riding on the last day of the season.

"A points total of 86 would normally put you in second spot ... we'll try and make it 89 on Sunday and, if we do, I think we'd deserve second spot. If we don't and it has to be the play-offs ... well, let's hope not.

"Let's hope Preston beat Blackburn."

Wanderers haven't enjoyed much luck this season but they had a double dose of good fortune before securing what eventually ran out as a comfortable win. Matt Clarke made two outstanding first half saves to deny Wolves' 19-year-old striker Adam Proudlock but, after Holdsworth had cashed in on a lucky ricochet to score his 15th of the season against the run of play on 21 minutes, the on-loan keeper was relieved to see the youngster's shot bounce to safety off the outside of the post.

Dangerous in the first half, Wolves were woeful in the second, prompting manager Dave Jones to launch a scathing attack on his players' professionalism. "Bolton didn't play well," he suggested, "but they didn't have to. They played with a certain arrogance because of where they are."

Arrogance sounds a touch disparaging of such a hard-working performance. In front of the solid and reliable Clarke, Gudni Bergsson was inspirational at the heart of a well-organised and resolute back four which, in turn, had good assistance from the midfield.

Holdsworth worked tirelessly, intelligently and skilfully and, after showing his opportunism in the first half, he capitalised on Paul Robinson's error to cleverly tee-up Ricketts for his 22nd of the campaign to make the game safe 19 minutes from time.

"You don't have to be pretty away from home," Allardyce pointed out, "but you have to be professional."