Wolves 1 Middlesbrough 2 - analysis

My guess is that any sense of FA Cup woe among the gold and black masses pretty much evaporated, as soon as the Molineux announcer uttered the words "Blackpool 2, Birmingham City 0" as fans filed out of the ground on Saturday evening.

No one who really has Wolves' interests at heart can surely criticise the players or manager Mick McCarthy for going out of the FA Cup. Not with 'Reading away' etched firmly into their minds, anyway.

So forget that Wolves are out – if you haven't already. Billed as the game to decide the fate of Boro boss Gareth Southgate, this tie was never going to provide too many headlines, given the way it fell flat for much of the second half after an encouraging start and reasonable last hour.

Yet despite the lower-than-expected attendance of 18,013 which showed where the fans' priorities are in these difficult times, the Cup has actually done McCarthy's squad some good this season.

Wolves have had that zip and tempo back about them for much of their last three games, two of those in the world's oldest knockout competition.

That win and performance at St Andrew's in the third round gave Wolves more than local pride and bragging rights.

After three games without a win and on the back of a potentially damaging home defeat to Preston, it also re-injected the players with the belief that has seen them reproduce the electric tempo that swatted teams away like flies in the early months of the season.

So rather than vilify McCarthy for the side he picked, the Wolves manager deserves praise for his selection.

After all, he wasn't exactly pitching in untried academy kids. No, the five changes he made on Saturday were all first-teamers with plenty of games under their belt - several have even been regulars this season.

Chris Iwelumo has been a first-choice for most of the campaign, Dave Edwards has missed just one League game and Kyel Reid is a new signing.

Only goalscorer Sam Vokes and Jason Shackell – who probably would have played regardless of Richard Stearman's suspension – could be considered fringe players and not necessarily weaker options either, just overlooked by the form of their counterparts.

So this was only a slightly under-strength side, who nevertheless competed throughout and were never out of the tie.

Who knows, if Matt Jarvis' 81st minute shot had gone in instead of wide with goalkeeper Brad Jones beaten, it would almost certainly have been Wolves and not Middlesbrough's name in the hat for the fifth round draw.

The fact that substitute Marvin Emnes clinched a 2-1 win for Boro two minutes after Jarvis' miss was hardly down to McCarthy's team selection.

The manager got things pretty much spot-on on this occasion. For those critical of McCarthy, contrast Wolves' minor worries with those of arch rivals Albion.

Already without nine injured players for Saturday's tie against Burnley, the Baggies lost ever-present captain Jonathan Greening for up to two months.

Now they face a replay, after playing Manchester United and Hull before hosting relegation rivals Newcastle.

So while McCarthy has virtually a fully-fit squad to pick from for the trip to Reading, the FA Cup has robbed Tony Mowbray of his captain. He also must contend with at least one more unwanted game in a competition he's unlikely to win.

For sentimentalists, McCarthy's selection may have stuck in the craw but, for realists, it struck an appreciation of dealing with the pressures of life in the Championship.

No one will bat an eyelid about Saturday's team or result if Wolves avoid defeat at the Madejski Stadium. Even a draw would keep Wolves' lead to at least four points with 17 games to go, if Blues were to beat Derby at home.

Although the game will now be uppermost in their minds, Wolves also need to make a friend of their home again as they look ahead.

No one is suggesting a return of the dreaded 'Molineux Factor', but the weekend defeat made it three games without a win in front of their own fans.

With successive home games against struggling Watford and Norwich coming up, Wolves need a Molineux tonic, especially with a surprising 12-match sequence of two home-two away game sequence continuing after Reading.

On Saturday, they started well and enjoyed much of the play. It wasn't hard to see why Boro had only won one in 11 as the visitors struggled to clear their lines.

Wolves were inches away from taking the lead as early as the fourth minute, when Vokes just missed connecting with Reid's free kick after Shackell flicked on.

But Boro were always dangerous on the break, as so often is the case against higher-ranked opposition, with the difference in the finishing.

Wolves kept them at bay for a while, but the longer the game wore on, the more likely it seemed that they would crack the home side's resistance – and so it proved.

Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey had to be at his best to block Adam Johnson's angled shot, after Afonso Alves put him through.

Hennessey was powerless to prevent Johnson's next serious effort though, grounded as stand-in right-back Dave Edwards blocked on the line.

Johnson's next effort, a swirling cross-cum-shot, was scrambled over by the Welsh international. But by now, Wolves' bright start had disintegrated as Boro sensed they could win the tie.

The goal they threatened had Premier League class stamped all over it, as Alves chipped over the advancing Hennessey after Tuncay's equally good reverse pass left the Brazilian clear.

Vokes' 63rd minute equaliser – a towering header from Edwards' cross for his first Molineux goal – gave Wolves fresh but brief hope and affected Boro's fragile confidence.

In introducing Michael Kightly, Andy Keogh and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in the last 38 minutes, Wolves tried to win the game. But apart from Jarvis' effort, there was little to suggest they were going to win.

Captain Karl Henry claimed he and Ebanks-Blake were fouled in the build-up to Emnes' winner.

But despite protests, you get the impression that if the same happened at Reading, the calls would be far more vociferous.

By Tim Nash