From the archive - Bully's last hat-trick
Wolves have only ever once before hosted Barnet at Molineux – and a repeat of that scoreline tonight would go down very nicely.
In August 1998 they thrashed the Bees 5-0 with Steve Bull scoring his 18th and final Wolves hat-trick.
Bully's hat-trick, polished off with a thunderous header for his third goal, was joyously celebrated by the 15,000 home fans in attendance, not just because it helped overturn a shock 2-1 deficit from the first leg a week earlier.
Because Bully, then aged 33, had come close to leaving Wolves that summer and wasn't expected to be in the first team when the 1998/99 season kicked off.
He said after his hat-trick exploits: "I thought I was probably not wanted. My view was that I had done by job and needed to get out of the way.
"But I sat down with my wife and we decided I should stick to my guns and fight to keep my place."
The Wolves fans were delighted he did.
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David Instone wrote in the Express & Star: "Steve Bull has scored hat-tricks in front of bigger crowds than this and against better opposition.
"But it's doubtful whether any of his three-goal heroics have been greeted by a louder roar than that summoned by 15,000 Wolves fans last night.
"His 18th hat-trick and, incredibly, his first at Molineux for seven and a half years, was his reward not only for an exemplary night of tireless foraging, but also for a true predator's instinct.
"The cheer that greeted the sight of his third goal - and Wolves' fifth - was huge considering the tie was long since dead and buried; a din surpassed only by the adulation the player received as he was immediately substituted to allow Mark Jones a ten-minute senior debut."
The goals moved Bull level with John Richards as Wolves' 18-goal top scorer in the League Cup.
The Wolves hero said: "It's my job to score goals, records don't mean much to me.
"But when I sit back in my retirement, I might say, 'fair play, nobody will beat that'."
It was almost to be Bull's last hurrah. He scored again at Watford 10 days later, before his final Wolves goal came against Bury in September.
But the Barnet thrashing, while showcasing what Wolves' recent past had been about, also offered a glimpse into the future, with a certain young Robbie Keane scoring the team's other two goals.
His second goal was a peach – a cheeky flick from a tight angle after winning a 50-50 challenge.
"It was the sort of finish that distinguishes him as a true star," the E&S report added.
Wolves: Stowell; Muscat, Richards, Curle, Naylor (Gilkes 80); Osborn, Sedgley, Fernando, Froggatt: Bull (Jones 80), Keane. Subs: Bray, Atkins, Williams
Goal log: 1-0, Bull (14). Diving close-range header to a bouncing right-wing cross by Keane after Bull's initial pass out to the wing.
2-0, Bull (36). Controlled Fernando's right-wing cross and fired home right-footed from close range.
3-0, Keane (45). Drove right-footed through a crowd of players after Osborn's free-kick had been headed down in the area.
4-0, Keane (74). Magnificent improvisation after winning a 50-50 tussle with Ford, rounded off with the cheekiest of flicks from a tight angle.
5-0, Bull (79). Powerful close-range header from Froggatt's fine right-wing corner.
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