Wolves continued their occupation of the Championship’s top spot last night and moved into the land of the legends in the process, writes Martin Swain.

See also:Wolves 2 Crystal Palace 1 – in pictures

Their fifth victory in six games made it the club’s best start since the man himself, Stan Cullis, patrolled the rabbit warren corridors of the old Molineux and Mick McCarthy was in his first year of primary school.

Yes, Wolves haven’t opened a campaign this well since 1962 in a world still waiting to see James Bond on screen and hear The Beatles on vinyl and as much as McCarthy, now fully grown and well educated in football’s pitfalls, is trying to keep things calm . . . well, it’s starting to get pretty exciting.

What will have pleased the manager most about this success, against a resurgent Crystal Palace fresh from their breakthrough victory at the weekend, is some of the resilient qualities Wolves required to achieve it.

Sure, there was still plenty of evidence of the sweeping, high-tempo attacking football which has wowed the fans this season – none more so when they popped in a goal after just 19 seconds.

But Wolves also reminded us that it isn’t just American banks that can dig deep into their reserves. They completed this mission with four, perhaps five, players missing who might be considered ‘first picks’ and with one or two signs in the first half of a little fatigue clogging their play.

For all the gloss of the start, this is still the Championship – horrible, gritty, earthy, tough and testing. Wolves are not going to be able to breeze along at three goals per game ad infinitum and this was an encouraging reminder for McCarthy that a team which has been such a delight on they eye can still do some of the ugly stuff when required.

All of this is not to say that Palace could have gone the same way of Wednesday or Forest with a more clinical finish at the end of some rampaging forward movement, especially in a dominant second half.

Given the impetus of that amazing early goal from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Wolves did not quite know what to do with themselves before Palace hit back strongly and dominated the middle phase of the opening period during which Paul Ifill equalised.

But just as we wondered whether Wolves were running out of steam, they responded with renewed energy and before and after Andy Keogh’s 58th minute winner got themselves into enough goalscoring positions to finish off the match without any anxieties.

Ebanks-Blake’s goal began a classic centre-forward display in which his prowling goal threat duelled with his ability to bring team-mates into the game, notably Michael Kightly,

This pair enjoyed a series of combinations which repeatedly unlocked Palace but without actually getting their hands on the loot, Kightly finding any number of visiting defenders off which to bounce goalbound shots when he wasn’t driving other efforts wide.

If his finishing touch was awry, the rest of Kightly’s game served as a reminder as to just how much he was missed last season, an observation made more pertinent by the absence of his fellow winger Matt Jarvis through injury.

In fact, the game was not past the half hour before another of this season’s early successes, Dave Jones, hobbled away with a back problem.

It meant Wolves were now without Craddock, Elokobi, Jones, Jarvis and Iwelumo – all whom might be starting in an injury free world – and yet still had sufficient strength in depth to see off a Neil Warnock team. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The depth of those resources was underlined by the performance of Dave Edwards, Jones’s replacement which, had it started earlier, would have been of man-of-the-match material.

Edwards was conspicuous in propelling his side forward again, notably in the second half, when he seemed to feature in every dash towards Palace’s goal while helping to repel their occasional threat at the other end.

It is the confidence and conviction within the team which is most striking, however, something of which Molineux was reminded from the kick off.

The excellent Sam Vokes chased down the clearance from deep and by the time Keogh collected his short pass to deliver a fine cross, Wolves had three more players piling into goalscoring positions.

A header by Jones was collected by Ebanks-Blake for a shot on the turn which beat Julian Speroni.

“Sometimes a team can score too early,” Warnock said to his assistant Keith Curle at this point, “although if we’re 5-0 down at half time I’ll be wrong!”

For a brief moment or two, that nightmare scenario for Palace looked possible but to their credit they fought their way back to equalise on 32 minutes.

This goal sprang from a moment of inexplicable indecision by Neill Collins. With every instinct, every coaching session, every fibre of his being telling him to hoof a clearance into touch, Collins opted to try to clip a difficult pass up the line – Kieron Djilali intercepted and set up Ifill for a simple goal.

What was interesting was what came next. Collins’s next touch got a gentle but discernible ripple of applause from the Molineux fans which was clearly meant to encourage the young defender, so often a scapegoat for criticism in the past.

And he responded to produce a marvellous display of resistance thereafter alongside the increasingly-accomplished Richard Stearman. Yes, the mood really is changing.

And the winner could not have been scored by a more deserving figure than Keogh, who was beginning to suffer groans as he fought to find his touch playing out wide on the left.

But when Kightly broke clear to set up Ebanks-Blake for a shot Speroni somehow blocked, Keogh’s supporting run was rewarded as he forced home the rebound.

Last night’s London Evening Standard declared that the last time Spurs started this badly, they escaped relegation by a point. The last time Wolves started this well, they finished just outside what we now call the Champions League positions.

Make of that what you will. But at the very least McCarthy’s team is delivering a powerful opening statement of intent.