Cheltenham Town 1 Wolves 3
Wolves' opening run-out of the pre-season schedule brought a comfortable 3-1 victory at Cheltenham Town and it was all change at half-time.
And manager Kenny Jackett will hope it's a signal of the increasing competition in his ranks he wants to bring to 2014's League One champions.
It was the second 45 minutes which held most interest to the 832 Wolves fans, who gave up an evening to see what their team have got cooking.
In have come Tommy Rowe and Rajiv van La Parra ,with former Peterborough captain Rowe instantly looking at ease in the new-look Wolves style.
Van La Parra has been raising eyebrows in training and this was the first public viewing of the pace wide game he will be bringing to the pot.
But perhaps the best moment of the evening – other than a nice little morale booster for Leon Clarke – came in the first minute.
Nouha Dicko made a strong challenge on Cheltenham captain Lee Vaughan and collapsed to the turf in genuine discomfort.
For a moment, it looked as if Wolves were off to the worse possible start, especially with the absence of a like for like replacement for Dicko.
He eased his way back into the game and completed his allotted 45 minutes. It was a reminder of the tightrope on which the fortunes of teams can lie.
As for the goals, Wolves started with a penalty on 35 minutes after Troy Brown was guilty of a needless trip on Michael Jacobs.
Soft but the right call – and Bakary Sako fooled goalkeeper Trevor Carson by giving it the 'dink' down the middle as he dived right.
Within a minute, it was 2-0 as Sako reached the by-line and Dicko's presence of mind got him in position to touch the ball into the path of Dave Edwards, who applied an assured finish.
Clarke's moment then came four minutes into the second-half and was not without its symbolism.
On his 'second' debut for Wolves last season, he broke away from the half-way line but failed to finish cleanly, a prelude to a return to his first club which didn't go as he would have hoped.
An identikit chance occurred – and he will hope the sure touch and composed finish with which it was executed is a sign of a happier time to come.
It was left to Cheltenham midfielder Matt Richards to claim the best goal of the night, however, when he curled a delicious free-kick over the wall and beyond Aaron McCarey on 61 minutes.
