Wolves 2 Sunderland 1 - analysis

We may never know how important this win was for Mick McCarthy.

But there is no doubting that, if he is in trouble, he's not suffering alone.

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

If this performance is anything to go by, the players are right behind him, and, as he insisted afterwards, so are the board and the fans. With it came his very own moment to possibly change the course of history.

Sir Alex Ferguson was said to have been saved by Mark Robins' winner at Nottingham Forest in 1990.

Maybe Wayne Hennessey's 73rd-minute penalty save and Wolves' equaliser 25 seconds later was one which will be regarded as McCarthy's.

Twenty years ago this week, a home win against Sunderland after eight defeats in 11 proved to be Graham Turner's stay of execution. If the same is true for McCarthy, it will also be remembered for the force of will and determination of his players.

You have to hand it to the Wolves manager; he and his team have an ability to dredge every last ounce out of themselves and produce key performances and results when they need it most.

Last season it was home wins over Sunderland and Manchester City after losing four on the trot, and the eye-catching victories over Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United when they had hit rock bottom, not to mention Stephen Hunt's goal three minutes from the end of the season that kept them up.

This time, their moments of glory are corresponding with games against the teams around them.

A fourth successive win against Sunderland and third in a row at home against them, after coming from behind thanks to Kieran Richardson's vicious angled drive on 52 minutes, made it seven points from three games against Swansea, Wigan and the Black Cats this term.

The problem is that it keeps getting to this point before they react.

Waves of pressure have lapped at McCarthy's door because the rate of progress of the team this season hasn't matched the predictions of himself, the board or senior players.

Eight defeats in 10 games wasn't 'part of the brochure' when they talked of finishing in the top 10 in August.

And for chunks of yesterday's game up until the equaliser, we were left wondering how Wolves had improved in the near two-and-a-half years they have been in the Premier League, such was the nerviness of their football and difficulty they found in breaking down Sunderland.

Statistics suggest the signs of progress are there if you look hard enough.

This priceless win moved Wolves four places higher and five points more than they had at the same stage last year, when they were five points from safety.

Now they are four points above the drop zone. Big games sometimes call for big decisions, and McCarthy confounded those critics who accuse him of being too loyal to certain players by dropping Roger Johnson after a series of struggling performances.

In truth it wasn't a gamble because Jody Craddock produced a typically commanding display in his place and was so unlucky to concede the penalty won by the dive of Sebastian Larsson outside the box.

Justice was done with Hennessey's save, but no-one could have foreseen the dramatic turnaround that was to follow.

Fletcher twice proved his class as he brought down Hennessey's goal-kick and finished off a flowing move by nodding home Matt Jarvis' cross, seconds after Hennessey's heroics.

Eight minutes later, Fletcher grabbed the winner and his fifth goal of the season when he pivoted after a misplaced header by Larsson from Adam Hammill's cross caught Jamie O'Hara's hand and Wolves' £7m record signing lashed it into the bottom corner.

Fletcher's brace means he's now scored 11 goals in his last 18 league games with 15 in 22 starts, a remarkable record which underlines his value.

There was more conviction about Wolves' goals than the performance – particularly in the first half – but McCarthy's men at least made the opposition goalkeeper work more than at Everton and Chelsea.

Keiren Westwood denied both the industrious Edwards from 30 yards and Stephen Hunt from point-blank range, before Stephen Ward made a vital goal-line clearance from Stephane Sessegnon.

Ultimately, it was a victory Wolves just about deserved, even if their up-'em-and-at-'em approach came laced with a more uncompromising style of football.

Lucky Wolves? Not a bit of it. After the injustices of the Newcastle match, McCarthy and his men were due a flirtation with Lady Luck. Finally, she's smiling on Mick.