Sheff Utd 1 Wolves 3 - analysis

Steve Morgan last night celebrated his 56th birthday shivering in the cold of Bramall Lane.

But you know Wolves' multi-millionaire owner would not have wanted to be anywhere else in the world.

Even in these hard-pressed days, Morgan could doubtless have afforded to pass his big day in any number of glamourous hot-spots dotted around the globe.

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But then he would have missed his team continue their remorseless quest for promotion with a potent mix of character and quality to douse the flames flickering from Sheffield United's fiery challenge.

Defending perfectly suited for the Championship was combined with finishing perfectly suited to the Premier League and the Blades, a team which had only conceded four goals at home all season, were confounded by three wonderful strikes flying past Paddy Kenny.

Yes, Wolves got the breaks of a team which just cannot stop winning, most notably when referee Graham Laws and his officials failed to spot a 49th minute inswinging corner from Brian Howard swerve over the line before being cleared.

That could have levelled the game at 1-1 and possibly changed the course of the contest.

But you have to earn those breaks and no-one could quibble Wolves did just that. One broken nose, one concussion, a bruised hip and gashed shin and a strained calf muscle were being treated in the visitors' dressing room by the time it was all over, a legacy of the highly-physical and largely aerial assault that rained down on Wolves throughout.

The rewards, though, were hugely satisfying. Their six point lead at the top was retained but, more importantly, the distance between automatic promotion and the play-off line was stretched to a dozen points.

No one, least of all manager Mick McCarthy, would claim this team is anything more yet than a thrusting young Championship outfit motoring along with conviction and menacing goal power.

But they are once more following the trail of their ancestral legends. For the second time this season they will endeavour to match the club record eight wins in a row but no Wolves team has ever put together two seven-game winning streaks in a season before now.

Cullis's 1957-58 league champions managed six-in-a-row twice but that is the measure of this campaign of wonderful opportunity Wolves have carved for themselves.

Overseeing it all, McCarthy is the last man to get caught up in such statistical pleasantries even if, a year from being told by Molineux that he didn't know what he was doing, he is once more "Super Mick McCarthy," as the 2,000 travelling fans hailed him last night.

With all three substitutions forced on him by half-time, McCarthy was for once more inconvenienced by the game's demands than the crutches still required as he recovers from ankle surgery.

But whatever else awaits him this season, the award for Best Performance by a Manager on One Leg is a cinch. A concussed Dave Edwards went after 16 minutes, a bruised and cut Carl Ikeme collapsed after 40 and Dave Jones only just made it to half-time.

It was testament to his squad's depth that Wolves still had manpower of sufficient quality to hold off the Blades before completing their execution with two more peachy goals to add to their opening effort inside five minutes.

Oh yes, those goals. No matter how many more 'highs' this season brings, it is impossible to imagine the team conjuring a better collection than this triplet.

The first two went to Chris Iwelumo, who passed the ball through the eye of the needle for his first (the best) and then drove home a volley of crushing certainty.

When the Scots see the highlights, the pressure on Glasgow Police to step-up their search for the imposter who missed from two yards against Norway will surely increase. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake added the third, smashed past a helpless Kenny with customary power, and ensured that Matthew Spring's first goal for the Blades 15 minutes from time was more inconvenient than damaging.

But how Wolves had to work to establish those match-winning moments.

Iwelumo, who was worth his £400,000 fee for this one performance alone, had given Wolves comfort with his opening goal after four minutes 25 seconds when Ebanks-Blake gathered possession and gave Michael Kightly the chance to thread through a cutting pass.

The striker had enough to get in front of Chris Morgan, take the ball around Kenny and then defy both the acute angle and Blades' retreating cover to slide rule a shot into the opposite corner.

First strike achieved it was time to strap on the flak jackets as United, seeking out James Beattie's aerial prowess with similar accuracy, flew at the leaders in what seemed like a rage of indignation over this early concession.

Ikeme responded with two brave and alert saves, at the feet of Billy Sharp and then Beattie, but produced his best effort just when it seemed Wolves must crack under the weight of the home team's aerial barrage after 36 minutes.

He somehow reached a point-blank volley from Matthew Kilgallon with an outstretched left arm – a remarkable save executed with such strength from his left hand the ball ricocheted out for a throw-in.

But, by the break,Wayne Hennessey was back on his old patrol after his junior partner had given in to shin and thigh injuries and he would be at the centre of the game's most controversial moment, punching clear that Howard corner as he struggled to get through the 'traffic' in front of him on 49 minutes.

Was it over the line? It certainly looked like it and United claimed replays confirmed that. Imagine their fury, then, when Wolves responded to the escape with two killer goals in the 59th and 63rd minutes.

In common with his chairman, captain Karl Henry is celebrating a birthday, his 26th today, and provided the set-up for the Iwelumo volley with a surging run past United's last line of defence. His beautifully-weighted clipped cross his centre forward devoured with relish.

Then it was back to the Iwelumo-Kightly-Ebanks-Blake combo for the third, Kightly enjoying a rare opportunity to run with freedom and set up his partner.

United fling the ball into the area so often that it was inevitable that one knock-down would eventually fall their way for Spring to sweep home their solitary response but, in truth, it all petered out a little even if Neill Collins and Morgan each planted set-piece headers on to the woodwork.

By Martin Swain.