Wolves boss Mick McCarthy believes hero keeper Wayne Hennessey’s outstanding performance was that of a young man who has grown in stature since his last confrontation with Albion.

Hennessey was plunged into the Black Country derby promotion play-off games at the end of last season because of injury to Matt Murray, a taste of things to come when Murray broke down again in pre-season.

Since then, the young keeper’s reputation has flourished but yesterday’s dramatic penalty save represented the high-point of his club career so far – and gave him hero status among the Wolves fans.

His moment of derby legend arrived with five minutes remaining when referee Chris Foy dramatically pointed to the spot when Neill Collins pulled down Craig Beattie as the Scottish striker surprised him with a penalty area challenge.

Hennessey guessed right and timed his dive perfectly to beat away Zoltan Gera’s spot-kick and the Wolves fans responded by singing his name all the way to the final whistle.

“I think he has grown in stature since he came here last time,” said McCarthy. “He looked very nervous in the first game against them at Molineux, but was outstanding in the second one – he kept the score down that night there is no question about that.

“But I think we saw in this game that he has advanced even more since then.

“Arguably the best save was from Teixeira, with the penalty he has guessed right and saved it. But the other one was a better save, it was fantastic

“But I think his back four deserve a pat on the back as well because other than that I don’t think he has made that many saves. But yes, he made two vital ones.

“I think I should also say a word for Graham Stack, who has come to us on loan and has been great for Wayne.

“Stacky deserves some credit for that. because he’s been such a bubbly character around the place and Wayne’s a better keeper for it.

“Should the penalty have been awarded? I haven’t seen it on TV yet, but there was probably enough there for it to be given.

“There was a tangle of arms and legs. But as it is the panto season coming up I was hoping someone would shout ‘He’s behind you’ to Neil Collins.”

The fact that Hennessey was ultimately restricted to those two memorable stops confirmed in McCarthy’s eyes that his team were good value for a point.

“I’m pleased in two ways,” McCarthy said. “Pleased that we have got a point from it and I’m more pleased at the way we played. It was a real solid, mature performance.

“As we came off the pitch at the finish, Terry Connor said to me that we had just given a real ‘man’s performance’ and he was right.

“It’s a difficult place to play, they have a good home record and they are a very good side.

“Tony Mowbray, to his credit, has got them playing some great stuff but I think we matched them. They had a great spell in the first half but I thought we had by far and away the better of it in the second half.”