Analysis of Wolves 1 Tottenham 0

Manager Mick McCarthy joked afterwards that winning meant he can go out for a pint again in Wolverhampton.

A few more results like this and the whole city will be cracking open the champagne.

A battling performance at a freezing night at Molineux might not have been the ideal backdrop for a vintage bubbly display.

It wasn't spectacular – it is never going to be in this most gruelling of seasons. It wasn't pretty – especially after Peter Crouch came on, when Wolves were happy to head or kick the ball as far as Spurs launched it in.

But, more importantly, it was a result to restore genuine hope that this fight for survival could yet be successful.

The players certainly believe it. Judging by the ecstatic reaction at the final whistle, so do the Molineux masses.

Such a display of character by players so crestfallen just three days beforehand following the harsh defeat at Birmingham deserved a heartwarming reaction from the Wolves public. They got it.

For sending his charges back out into battle so determined and pumped up amid the criticism flying around the tedious kneejerk platforms of phone-ins and the messageboards, perhaps some consideration should be given to McCarthy.

He continually tells us he "doesn't give a flying" about public opinion and such brutally honest assessments of his and his team's detractors don't sit well with his critics. But whatever fans think of him, one thing he doesn't lack is belief in what he is doing.

If the old adage is to be believed about teams eventually taking on the personality of their manager, then McCarthy is surely your man because this Wolves team aren't going to surrender their Premier League place without a helluva fight.

McCarthy's playing career finished almost two decades ago, but at Molineux last night there were reminders of his full-blooded determination all over the pitch in a performance borne from his core values of determination, commitment and workrate.

A glance at the league table makes pleasant reading again for Wolves fans: up four places to 15th again, their highest placing since December 28, and a point clear of the drop zone. It was a night to savour for anyone of gold and black persuasion, and a first top flight victory in seven outings also provided several firsts.

David Jones' first Wolves Premier League goal clinched the club's first top flight double since April 1981 against Sunderland, while it was their first over Spurs Wolves since their first league title-winning season of 1953-54.

Goals might be terribly hard to come by, a fact reinforced by Jones's classy strike ending a home league drought of 337 minutes. But McCarthy is placing more stock than ever before in his Molineux reign on keeping clean sheets.

With back-to-back home shutouts against Liverpool and Tottenham, they have kept three out of five clean sheets at Molineux to suggest the players are not only heeding the instructions but that the opposition aren't exactly finding scoring a cakewalk either.

Last night that stubbornness was built on a fierce rearguard starting with the imperious Kevin Doyle at the front and Marcus Hahnemann in goal.Doyle's ability to win just about every ball that comes anywhere near him and from any angle or height is simply a joy to watch.

All around him, there were clear examples of excellent play. Talking of firsts, perhaps none more so in the powerful shape of Adlene Guedioura.

The French midfielder son of an Algerian international footballing father and a Spanish international basketballing mother has athletic genes, but few could have foresaw such an accomplished full debut.

Given Wolves are his eighth club in six years, fans could be forgiven being sceptical at the pedigree of the relatively unknown 24-year-old.

Anyone doubting the gulf from the comparative backwater of the Belgian league to the Premier League – or even the Championship for that matter – needs only recall Wolves' only other import from the same country before last month - Cedric Roussel never looked the part.

But thankfully this fellow seems to have the engine, physical presence, awareness and quality to add something to Wolves' survival push.

The purr of acknowledgement that went around Molineux following his substitution 18 minutes from time suggested the fans believe they could have a 'find' on their hands and the club's foresight to have already locked him down on a three-year contract should he impress could prove astute business.

But it was Wolves' other attacking central midfielder, Jones, who provided the stand-out moment as he volleyed home the winner in the 27th minute in a move he started and finished after spreading play to Matt Jarvis, whose cross was swept home.

That was one of the few serious chances, coming seven minutes after Hahnemann spread himself brilliantly to block Niko Kranjcar's effort with his legs.

It's hard to recall Jarvis being more effective in a Wolves shirt, and his low drive had Heurelho Gomes scrambling to tip around the post before the break.

Jarvis was one of three Wolves players with Doyle and Kevin Foley who tried to claim a penalty in the opening 45 minutes.

But on a night when they would have had to have been taken out by a Sherman tank to have persuaded Mark Clattenburg to given Wolves a spot kick, none of the three incidents looked convincing enough.

In the second-half, apart from Kranjcar's early angled drive into the side-netting and Tom Huddlestone's first-time effort that spun wide a couple of minutes from time, Spurs' expected onslaught never arrived and it was heartening for Wolves to see Jermain Defoe dropping as deep as the halfway line to seek out the ball.

What did transpire was numerous high balls for Crouch, but these were as eagerly gobbled up by Jody Craddock and an increasingly more solid Christophe Berra than the gangly robotic dancer dubbed "Rodney Trotter" by the South Bank.

Indeed, Wolves traded as many blows as Spurs as Doyle somehow fought off Sebastien Bassong and Gomes to wrap his left foot around the ball to hook wide, before Karl Henry's drive deflected off Huddlestone for what should have been a corner.

After Sunday's arrival of a much-travelled goalscorer heralded their downfall in Kevin Phillips, there were understandable concerns at whether Crouch would have the same impact.

But this time, Wolves gained in strength as Spurs seemed to run out of ideas and, for all Crouch's size and ability, the lanky forward doesn't possess the predatory finishing of Phillips.

In the end, the right result prevailed. And, with nine days to the visit of Chelsea, fans can raise a glass to Wolves.

By Tim Nash