Derby 2 Wolves 3 - The Swain Game

After all the trials and tribulations, the blood, sweat and tears, the moans and groans and agonies of those Black Country derby defeats, the hope of the first year and the sterility of the second - after all of those tests of nerve and composure and faith and conviction, Wolves are almost there.

Three years after drawing up the plans which demanded a rebuilding not just of the team but of the very culture engulfing Wolverhampton Wanderers, the club is now one win from its objective.

No one who witnessed this thrilling comeback at a packed-out Pride Park will doubt the team's ability to complete the final step back to the Premier.

Manager Mick McCarthy's assessment of his team's performance in the 3-2 victory was deliberately downcast, in the "Carry On Killjoy" mode he likes to adopt when it's all getting a little too exciting.

He said: "We were hopeless. We were awful. We were rubbish. That's as bad as we've played in a long while."

Sorry Mick, you were not fooling anyone. Inside, we know you were dancing with delight at the way this young team came through such a demanding afternoon and no amount of contrived criticism will dampen the excitement you can bet will swamp Molineux come Saturday's visit of QPR.

Sure, Wolves got a lot wrong against a Derby team who bossed the middle chunk of the match and might have put the game beyond Wolves' reach after going 2-1 ahead.

But the league leaders have also got an awful lot right – most obviously in the way in which they dug themselves out of a corner to claim a dramatic victory thanks to a winning goal from Andy Keogh three minutes from time.

Ah, Keogh. It is difficult to imagine a more fitting hero of this particular hour, for his story is the story of Wolves since they tore up the book and went back to square one in the summer of 2006 without a manager or a team.

Rightly feted for his performances after arriving in the January of that unexpectedly-successful first campaign under McCarthy, he was then one of the principle victims of the disappointment that drenched this manager's still-evolving team in its water-treading second campaign.

Even though Wolves have been leading the field this season since late autumn, Keogh has had to endure even more flak, flak which reached such ferocious proportions by February that McCarthy was forced to haul him off during a 3-3 draw with Norwich at Molineux.

But just as Wolves have kept faith with their planning for a new era under Steve Morgan, so McCarthy has trusted his players to deliver.

The manager and striker's payback came here as Keogh's excellent goals at the beginning and end of a thrilling contest enveloped a bravura front-running performance which led Wolves safely through this stern test of their promotion credentials.

Keogh was not the only player to reward his manager's faith.

In goal, Wayne Hennessey came up with vital saves at vital moments to prevent Derby turning a slender advantage into an unassailable lead, a contribution which will do much to restore confidence within yet another of the young players asked to deal with enormous responsibility while enduring the unmistakeable carping of a demanding public.

There was an extra bonus for Wolves to see loaned substitute Marlon Harewood respond to his role in goals two and three by engaging so fully with the excitement they generated among the travelling fans?

This time last week, Birmingham's 10-man victory had sent a wave of doubt rippling through the Molineux community. The response since has revealed the inner strength of a team now one win away from a promotion, which will not need the shot-gun lottery of the play-offs circa 2003.

The final steps in such a long journey are always the hardest and never was that more apparent than in this absorbing collision of two such similarly-appointed clubs. Indeed, the dream start Keogh gave his side served only to remind us of that fact.

In just the seventh minute of a misleadingly low-key start, Keogh chased down a high, half-volleyed clearance by Christophe Berra that ex-Albion man Martin Albrechtsen appeared to have covered.

But the Derby defender was too easily nudged aside by the Wolves striker's challenge which was followed by a remarkably-executed, over-the-shoulder volley which diverted the ball in the opposite direction and beyond a flummoxed Stephen Bywater.

Derby were incensed, screaming for a foul on Albrechtsen, but as the game progressed Wolves must have wondered whether this early goal helped or hindered them. McCarthy's team seemingly did not know whether to stick or twist.

A fouls count of 15-7 against them suggested that either the visitors tackled with all the subtlety of combine harvesters or referee Paul Taylor caved in to the pressure from an angry home crowd.

From one soft free-kick too many, Derby pulled level when Przemyslaw Kazmierczak curled in a free-kick direct from 25 yards.

Derby were worth their equaliser, mind, especially with Wolves retreating briefly to 4-5-1 in an effort to stem the home team's growing authority.

Wolves contributed to their problems with some terribly sloppy defending, an affliction which ran along all the back four.

After the interval, even though Kevin Foley smacked an effort against the post and Karl Henry did not trust himself to finish off a glaring back-post chance with a volley, the discomfort in front of Hennessey made a Derby lead unsurprising.

Hennessey had stopped Mile Sterjovski scoring with a wonderful piece of goalkeeping after more blundering by his defenders, but there was nothing he could do to prevent the same player after 55 minutes.

Wolves were up against it even though their half-time discussions must have included news of equally difficult afternoons for Birmingham and Sheffield United.

But the arrivals of Harewood for Sam Vokes, Kyel Reid and even Stephen Ward, whose body language was full of purpose and belief, helped change the tones of the game.

Ward set up Reid for the run and cross which Harewood helped work on to Jarvis as he scampered in at the far post to smack past Bywater on 74 minutes.

At that point, every Wolves fan would have accepted a point without quibbling.

But then came the bonus. A wonderful break from Harewood in the right-sided position to which he naturally wanders ended with a cross no defence in the country could have defended, never mind an unconvincing Derby rearguard – and Keogh was perfectly placed to head home.