Captain Karl Henry admits the off-field action could become as important as what happens on the pitch tomorrow.

Wolves need a win to guarantee survival against Blackburn, who themselves need the same. But with just one point between the five teams involved in the scrap for survival, goal difference could be vital.

And that means events at Old Trafford, White Hart Lane and the Britannia Stadium could be just as decisive as the outcome at Molineux.

Henry admits it could get hairy — and there could even be a ‘stand-off’ similar to the infamous goalless draw between Austria and West Germany at the 1982 World Cup where both sides played keep-ball and neither side tackled the other to allow both nations to progress.

“I’m sure the manager and Terry Connor will have their finger on the pulse and if there’s any information that will help us, they’ll pass it on,” said the skipper.

“But if we hear nothing, I think we’ll continue to press them and try to get a goal.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of drinks breaks if it’s a hot day.

“They’re going to make sure they have an official source of information and I’m sure in the last 20 minutes or half hour we’ll need to know.

“We had a situation three years ago where we were seventh in the Championship and we were waiting on other results.

“We beat Plymouth 1-0 and if we’d beaten them by two goals we’d have got into play-offs. We were listening to the crowd — we didn’t know whether to attack or defend and it was horrible.

“So we want to make sure we’ve got official information. If someone is losing convincingly, we can play our game accordingly.

“We don’t want to know about every goal, but towards the end of the game, if it means we can take a draw or a 1-0 win, then of course we want to know, because we’d be crazy not to.

“It’s such a funny situation — we could find ourselves hearing Birmingham and Blackpool have gone ahead with two minutes to go.

“But we’re going to wait until we get information from the dug-out.”

Henry wouldn’t advocate the ‘stand-off’ situation, but it’s something which could develop — especially as the alternative is relegation.

“I don’t know. Whatever will be, will be,” he said. “We’ll go out to win the game and we’ll always err on the side of caution if needs be.

“I’m not going to say we’re going to keep the ball and Blackburn won’t press us because that would be foolish to think we can sit back and they won’t press us.

“If we could do that, then great but if we do that and get caught with a sucker punch and end up getting relegated, then more fool us.”

The 60-minute mark — traditionally a time to re-assess gameplan and/or bring on substitutes, will be a critical time.

“When you get to that 60-minute mark, no matter what stage of the season, there’s always a change in game-plan, unless maybe you’re Man United,” said Henry.

“We usually run so hard in the first half that you can’t do that for 90 minutes, especially against the top-quality sides. Sometimes you might be drawing 1-1 away from home and you say, ‘OK we’re not getting as close to them anymore, we’ve run out of steam, let’s sit back and soak it up a bit and approach it in a different way.

“If there’s any information that can help us, we’ll take it.”

Henry believes it would be suicidal if Wolves went all-out for the win.

“It’s a really difficult one,” he said. “We know if we win we’re safe but there’s an air of caution because if we go gung-ho and get beaten convincingly, we could be relegated.

“We’re in the lucky position— we’ve only got to look out for ourselves and our own result because if we do the business, we’ll be OK. But it’s not just a case of going out and winning because we’ve got to keep the back door firmly shut.”

As nervy as the game might be, Henry is just relieved Wolves have got this far after picking up seven points from the last three games.

“We’re just thankful we’ve got ourselves into this position because we’d hate to be going to Old Trafford needing a win and know that then even that might not be good enough,” he said.

Henry admits Wolves players are in unchartered territory.

“The size of this game is something I don’t think any of us has been involved in,” said the midfielder. “I’ve never known a league like this and never been involved in a relegation battle like this.

“It’s really weird — we’ve all looked at the league a million times and the different permutations. Really, you look in-depth at it and there are so many things that can happen tomorrow.

“For example, I think if Blackpool lose 2-0 and Birmingham 3-0, Blues go down — it’s crazy. But at least for us it’s nothing new, we’re under no more pressure than the rest of the season.

“We’ve been there all season, but one thing we did say is that where we are would put us in good stead. It wasn’t our plan, but come this stage of the season, being here was nothing new for us.”

Henry admits he expected some of their rivals to have crumbled under the pressure.

“We hoped clubs that were getting dragged into it might have wilted,” he said.

“They certainly haven’t because Blackpool and Wigan have pulled out results.

“Blackpool shown great character and put a couple of wins together. Everyone has shown good form down there.

So fair play to every team down there — everyone has been fighting until the death. Whoever stays up I think will deserve it.”

Wolves have given themselves a real fighting chance going into the last day.

But Henry admits it took a few harsh words to bring about their revival following the 3-0 debacle at Stoke.

“Things needed to be said after that Stoke game — it was a dour performance,” he said.