Out of darkness... cometh light relief

A travelling army of 2,000 supporters made the near 400-mile round trip to Brighton's impressive Amex stadium, knowing a footballing miracle was needed if their team was to escape the dreaded double drop to League One.

Dozens defiantly continued something of a terrace tradition by coming clad in fancy dress which belied their side's sorry plight.

Where's Wally was there, alongside Fred Flinstone, plenty of clowns and a bunch of bananas as supporters chose to cheerily accept Wolves' nightmare fate rather than dwell on the looming reality of trips to Carlisle, Crewe and Crawley.

Any last lingering hope evaporated as Brighton took a fifth-minute lead but that failed to kill off the gallows humour among the travelling faithful which has become a firm feature of the team's miserable last two seasons. 'Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, we're going to Shrewsbury, que sera sera', they sang as news relegation rivals Barnsley and Peterborough had both taken early leads filtered through.

Meanwhile a sheepish-looking steward was forced to remove a rude inflatable from the pitchside amid the action in the stands, which was more entertaining from a Wolves perspective than the spectacle on the pitch.

The away fans' noisy backing for their under-performing team even prompted support from the happy home faithful, who scolded the Wolves players by serenading them with: "You're not fit to wear their shirt." Even the Brighton fans joined in at one point, singing to the Wolves players:?"You've let your fans down."

In return, many Wolves fans stayed to applaud the home team at the end of the game as they headed into the Championship play-offs.

There were flashpoints, as might be expected with passions running high.

Jamie O'Hara's sarcastic applause towards the fans following chants about his earnings prompted a furious response, and the team bus ran the gauntlet of abuse – mainly directed at O'Hara – as it left the ground.

But for the most part this was a remarkable display of loyalty from fans who have suffered defeat after defeat over the past two seasons.

Other than O'Hara the players headed over to acknowledge the fans at the final whistle, with a tearful George Elokobi staying for several minutes after handing over his shirt.

Bakary Sako, too, was embraced by the fans – even if much-maligned defender Roger Johnson could not find any willing takers for his jersey.

One-time Wolves managerial target Gus Poyet, now boss of Brighton, and several home players took time to applaud Wanderers fans.

After the game fans gave their assessment of what had gone wrong, as they vowed to get behind the team in the third tier.

Yorkshire Wolves Supporters' Club member Jim Fisher, aged 49, of Dewsbury, said: "Wolves fans are what make this club.

"We were here before all this nonsense and we will be here long after. We've seen it all before, this is just a chapter in our history."

Vic Jevons, a 50-year-old life time Wolves fan from Dudley, said: "We had Solbakken trying to play good football at the start of the season but the players he had weren't good enough to play his style and weren't willing to buy into it. What Jamie O'Hara did to the fans was disgraceful, at least Roger Johnson offered his shirt and stayed to clap us."

Vic's son Craig, 25, who has a home and away season ticket said: "You have Elokobi at the end in tears and coming over to us gutted, that's why he's a fans' favourite, he loves Wolves like we do." Matt Howe, 22, of Perton said: "The players didn't seem to be trying and they don't know who to look to – they lack leaders. You can't blame Saunders because we've had four managers and one set of players responsible for this.

"Morgan needs to get a person who knows football on the board because all he is is a businessman coming into a business he doesn't know about."