Five jubilant Wolves players tossed their soaking gold jerseys into the ecstatic away end at the end of the game.

Match-winner Neill Collins, Chris Iwelumo, Karl Henry, Kevin Foley and Sam Vokes are too cute for their gesture to be meant as a ‘put your shirt on Wolves to go up’ signal.

But it might as well have been as they went seven points clear at the top.

In fact it might have been just as big a statement as the conga-ing Santas in the Wolves end were a sign that Christmas is coming.

All this despite two Wolves fans in opposition. Wolverhampton-born manager Sean O’Driscoll and former Albion utility man James Chambers, a one-time Molineux season ticket holder.

Rarely have Mick McCarthy’s side had to show such intensity of desire and determination as they did on Saturday. Those qualities are going to be needed more than ever if Wolves are to keep the gap on Reading and Birmingham.

Reading’s 3-1 win at Blues has surely sent just as big a message to the Championship as the Wolves one that extended the gap between the top two.

But Wolves’ pursuers appear to have the more comfortable-looking festive programme.

While the Royals host play-off hopefuls Cardiff on Boxing Day before travelling to struggling Southampton two days later, Blues go to mid-table Ipswich and entertain Swansea.

That leaves Wolves, who host Sheffield United on Boxing Day and go to Blackpool on the 29th, with the tougher looking schedule to close 2008.

McCarthy warned his players before this one that if they think the first 23 matches were hard, the next 23 will be harder – but the wins keep coming.

From the swashbuckling, early season victories against Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich, Preston and Charlton, this one ranks alongside Coventry as one of the closest and scruffiest.

The game was headed for what would have been Wolves’ first goalless draw since Bristol City on April 12 until Neill Collins’ 81st minute winner.

But while the wins may be getting harder to come by, those classy displays in late summer have provided Wolves with a solid platform to build from.

Players buoyed by the positive results are now fortified by a thick layer of confidence which means that when they come under pressure, they have the nous to repel the danger, and even if they concede, they are likely to score.

Wolves were by no means at their best – Doncaster ensured that as they pressed as well as they passed. But they did the job, despite giving the ball away far too cheaply in the first-half.

McCarthy’s side have showed many different qualities this season – power, pace, strength and their fitness are normal staples. Thirty five points and 23 places separated the teams at the start of play.

But you would never have known it as Rovers were the better team in the first-half, then looked to have held the improving visitors all the way until Collins struck from Michael Kightly’s excellent free kick to secure Wolves’ eighth away win of 2008-09.

It ended Doncaster’s 408-minute run without conceding at home. Ultimately, it was Wolves’ dogged professionalism that triumphed in this corner of south Yorkshire.

So was victory deserved? McCarthy thought so, just.

After a breathless five chances in as many seconds in the 39th minute when Andy Keogh hit the bar, then the post, then Stephen Ward and Richard Stearman were superbly denied, they had more chances.

So yes, victory was earned. But as the long season prepares to become more hectic, it really doesn’t matter how the points come.

Wolves stalwarts from different eras, Ron Flowers – a guest at the game having been born just a few miles away from the ground at Edlington – and radio pundits Robbie Dennison and John Ward all left the Keepmoat impressed.

Yet at this rate, a few of the current side could be writing their names into club folklore. No one impressed more than Collins, who was a late replacement for the migraine-suffering Michael Mancienne.

Making his first start in six games, the Scottish defender was an aerial colossus, carrying on where he left off from Bramall Lane.

But to focus solely on Collins would be doing an injustice to the other players, as it was very much a team display after Wolves withstood Doncaster’s early pressure.

The personnel may change – Collins’ belated introduction saw Wolves field their eighth different back four of the season – but the are team now locked into their best defensive run for a year after making it three clean sheets in a row in their third successive win.

As for Rovers, it wasn’t difficult to see why they had only conceded seven goals at home this season – and scored only four in front of their own fans.

Good in possession but equally strong at putting the opposition under pressure, they are resolute in defence and solid in midfield – but fairly anonymous in the final third.

Despite bossing much of the possession, all Doncaster had to show was Paul Heffernan’s shot tipped onto the bar by Wayne Hennessey.

He appeared to palm Richie Wellens’ low drive wide just after the break, the referee saying the ball had already gone out. The gods appear to be shining on Wolves as far as decisions are going at the moment.

After they won what their own players say was a fortunate penalty against Derby, replays show Hennessey was arguably lucky not to concede a 61st minute spot kick for a push on Lewis Guy.

Thankfully for Wolves, the referee waved aside Doncaster’s noisy appeals and so continued the visitors’ gradual chipping away at Rovers’ rearguard that started with the half-time arrival of Chris Iwelumo and Matt Jarvis for Keogh and Matt Hill.

After the goal, Wolves could have made their advantage even more comfortable as Iwelumo, Karl Henry and Kevin Foley all had shots.

But although Wolves couldn’t add to their score, victory No 19 was theirs. The way things are going, you wouldn’t bet your shirt against them going all the way, even at this stage.