The Blues beat Wolves for the first time at Maine Road since 1984 and undoubted star of the show was 22-year-old Republic of Ireland international Richard Dunne.

''It was a tough game even when they were down to ten men and I thought we defended quite well,'' he said with some understatement.

''They got stuck into the game and it was physical but we handled it well. We have been passing the ball well and keeping possession well in recent games but last night we did not do that as well as we can.

''It was a big win for us in terms of the table, but there is a bit of disappointment because it was a chance for us to go out and show everyone how good we are and we didn't really take it.

''The three points is, though, the really important thing. We are second in the table now and our aim is to keep improving. It is nice getting man of the match awards but it was a team effort.''

Dunne's second-half tackle on Mohamed Camara was perhaps, Kevin Horlock's goal apart, the most critical moment of the 90 minutes. Certainly Blues boss Kevin Keegan thought so.

''It was highly significant,'' he declared. ''It was worth a goal for us. Richard made up ground very, very quickly and it was a magnificent tackle. ''People talk about goals and ability and skill but sometimes a good tackle can win you a game and that one certainly got us three valuable points.''