X Factor's Joseph Whelan in Molineux performance ahead of Bootcamp success

The 27-year-old, from Wednesfield, was axed from the show at the Bootcamp stage last year and the fear of falling at the same hurdle again became too much for him.

His acoustic rendition of Goo Goo Dolls' 'Iris' earned him one of the six places up for grabs. But in a new twist this year judges can replace performers with a new hopeful if another contestant makes a last-minute impression.

As Sharon Osborne thought over who she should remove in place of Zoe Devlin, who performed 'You Are So Beautiful To Me', fellow judge Gary Barlow suggested based on vocals Joseph should go.

This prompted Joseph to bury his head in hands and say "you can't do this to me, man" and at one point looked set to leave the stage.

However 'Mrs O' saved Joseph and decided to boot-off Kate Markham in replace of Zoe meaning Joseph advanced to the judges' houses stage.

Ahead of the screening of last night's dramatic show the father of one performed at Molineux on Saturday and took part in the half-time challenge helping to earn £300 for charity.

The singer-songwriter said: "I've been to Molineux a few times but I've never got on the pitch before. It was great.

"I was walking to the stadium and people were shaking my hand and patting me on the back and I really felt like people wanted me to do well.

"It's not every day you can perform in front of 20,000 plus people and I got a nice round of applause from the fans which made me feel I'm doing something good."

Despite getting to perform on the pitch, Joseph's highlight was to come before the game when he met his idol, Led Zeppelin legend and Wolves fanatic Robert Plant.

Joseph said: "I hadn't finished introducing myself and he knew who I was and I couldn't believe it. I was thinking 'this is one of the greatest rock stars ever and he's stood here talking to me'. He said to me he'd be at the next few Wolves games and to drop a CD into him. I'm doing definitely doing that."