Bit by bit and inch by inch they’re getting there.

Yes, Wolves are gradually starting to crack this Premier League lark, and bloodying some noses along the way for good measure. Nine games into the season, there are plenty of signs that Wolves are here to stay.

Usually the relief at a 1-1 draw at the home of a team expected to be top-six challengers would be palpable.

Yet so convincing was this Wolves performance that it was Everton who felt they had had a let-off, as Toffees boss David Moyes confirmed afterwards.

With home advantage this Saturday lunchtime, they will feel they can take the game to the side that conquered  Chelsea at the weekend, Villa.

One of the only disappointments at Goodison was they didn’t seal the win they went so close to securing, and perhaps deserved. The other irritation for the visiting camp was the ridiculous award of a second yellow card for Stefan Maierhofer.

But on Saturday, we saw the most convincing signals yet that Mick McCarthy’s brave hopefuls are also ready to compete at this most demanding level.

In goal, Wayne Hennessey produced arguably his most convincing performance of the season at the venue his hero Neville Southall graced with such aplomb.

Nowhere were those signs as bright than the back four, where the bloodstained, bandaged figure of Jody Craddock led the way with an imperious performance that left Everton observers remarking that this was the quietest seven-goal Louis Saha had been kept this season.

Either side of Craddock, there were determined performances from Christophe Berra, debutant Ronald Zubar as well as an improved George Elokobi.

Playing right-back, Zubar proved his manager’s pre-match prediction that he was ready for the Premier League and, on the basis of this display, there can be no greater compliment to say Kevin Foley may struggle to regain his place.

Karl Henry beavered away to stop Everton’s midfield while, up front, the hardworking Kevin Doyle gets better and better, capped by a class finish to put Wolves ahead. Any concerns at the more difficult run Wolves have embarked on is tempered by having some of their best players fully fit again.

It’s worth remembering, the Molineux men have been finding their feet with essentially the group of players that won the Championship.

Of the nine summer signings, only Greg Halford – now the only outfield player to have started every league game – and Doyle have played a significant part.

In addition, we haven’t really seen Michael Kightly and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake until now. After only one start between them until Saturday, they both need the forthcoming games to rediscover the form that made them such hot properties in the division below.

After their chances were written off by Everton’s most decorated manager Howard Kendall in his local newspaper column, Wolves set about destroying any notion of being Premier League whipping boys by going toe to toe with their hosts, then gained the upper hand before half-time to trigger a crescendo of boos around Goodison as the teams trooped off at the interval.

By then, Wolves had created the two best chances, Doyle’s curling left-foot effort parried away by goalkeeper Tim Howard before the £6.5million club record signing dummied Zubar’s cross for Ebanks-Blake to turn inches wide.

Up until then, Wolves’ only scare came when Tim Cahill chipped over from the edge of the box when McCarthy’s side were down to 10 men owing to Craddock’s “exchange of claret” with Joseph Yobo.

The incident forced him off the field for seven minutes while he had seven stitches in a head wound before returning in an unmarked shirt. Undeterred, Craddock further enhanced his reputation as Wolves’ best defender this season by bravely throwing himself in front of everything that came his way.

How they needed him as Everton briefly laid siege to the Wolves’ goal after the break. Within 23 seconds of the restart, Saha’s header was tipped over.

Hennessey was in action again on 57 minutes, sprinting to the edge of his box to superbly block Diniyar Bilyaletdinov before Henry threw himself in front of John Heitinga’s follow-up.

Saha must have throught he had got the breakthrough when his attempted curler appeared to be heading towards the bottom corner, only for Hennessey to fling himself to his left to paw away.

Wolves had been forced to defend deep, but the game opened up again as they pushed forward when Ebanks-Blake’s shot on the turn was deflected inches wide. There could be few complaints when Doyle steered beyond Howard to put Wolves ahead after Everton’s defenders somehow left Hennessey’s long kick with 14 minutes left.

From that moment, it looked like Wolves were destined for their first win at Goodison for 30 years.

So Bilyaletdinov’s equaliser two minutes from time, coming after the Russian punished Elokobi at the far post, was cruel on the visitors, and especially disappointing for the hitherto excellent Zubar, beaten by substitute Marouane Fellaini on the opposite side.

Even after all that, the excellent Doyle was denied a winner by Howard’s legs in injury-time. And so to Maierhofer.

Few would argue the merits of his first booking for sliding in late on Cahill. But referee Stuart Attwell, who gave the ‘phantom goal’ for Reading at Watford last season, sparked more controversy when he brandished the giant Austrian with another yellow card as he merely stepped in the way of Howard.

In fact, the former Manchester United man and not Maierhofer deserved to see red after the American keeper cuffed the striker ahead the head. Unfortunately for Wolves, they can’t appeal as it was a second yellow card.

But one glance at the match DVD tells the Nuneaton official he got it wrong and the decision should be rescinded immediately.

Thankfully it didn’t affect the outcome. Wolves strolled away from Merseyside with their heads held high, cursing a draw at Goodison Park. You have to suspect, the rest of the Premier League are beginning to sit up and take notice.

By Tim Nash