Five...late Wolves goals

Like a fingerprint, an ice crystal molecular structure, or a Harry Redknapp story, each Wolves goal is unique and different to the next.

They come from all different angles, in a plethora of different ways.

Many are consigned to the memory bin just a few months later, never to be recalled again.

But others become treasured moments in thousands of peoples' lives.

At the bottom end of the scale you've got your consolation goals. Jody Craddock's header in the last minute of a 4-1 home defeat to Arsenal in 2009 springs to mind, but there are many more that were barely worth celebrating.

Then there are goals in easy home matches that Wolves were expected to win. This could be a cup game against an underdog. Or take your pick from pretty much 23 home games in the League One season.

Neither of the above are celebrated with much gusto. No jumping up and down, no screaming until you can scream no more, no bear-hugging your mates, no falling down three rows of seats in uninhibited jubilation. Just a hearty cheer.

At the top end of the scale things get pretty exciting. An important goal in, say, a promotion campaign (Benik Afobe away at Blues a few months ago) can really stir the passion inside you.

Then you've got your unexpected goals against top opposition, say Dave Edwards' winner against Manchester City in 2010.

Goals in cup finals, or last game of the season deciders, are just phenomenal, and the biggest ones in Wolves' history have been regaled time and again.

Far more common that those, but just rare enough to mean you never, ever, ever get bored of them, are late goals. You know, the ones where when you watch them back on TV later you notice the pitch of the roar of the crowd immediately after the goal is a couple of octaves higher than usual. These goals matter.

1. Alex Rae, Reading 0 Wolves 1, 2003

And few mattered more than Alex Rae's winner against Reading in 2003.

The 81st minute is pushing the boundaries for what constitutes a 'late' goal. But in the context of the two-legged play-off tie, and Wolves' season, it was very late. And boy did it matter.

The first leg at Molineux saw Wolves edge a tight game 2-1 and there was trepidation ahead of the return at the Majedski.

A young Reading team, managed by Alan Pardew, finished above Wolves in the table and just a year after Dave Jones' team conjured up Wolves' very own Devon Loch moment, no one was taking anything for granted.

Again it was a tight game and with just 10 minutes remaining the nerves in the away end were frayed. Away goals still counted in the play-offs back then and just one Reading goal would give them the advantage.

Matt Murray was solid as a rock, Joleon Lescott and Paul Ince were powerhouses, and Wolves held firm.

And then came the moment they knew they were Cardiff-bound.

Picking up the ball just outside the Reading box from fellow Scot Colin Cameron, Alex Rae went all Zinedine Zidane, producing a flamboyant mini pirouette, holding off a defender, setting his sights and then drilling a composed finish into the bottom corner.

The celebrations were wild.

Rae, cheeky Scottish grin affixed to his face, put his hands to his ears, he jigged, he span around in the air - the least sophisticated Wolves goal celebration you'll see.

But everyone was at it. Substitutes joined in, the fans went potty and the joyous scenes continued for the remainder of what was left of the game.

Wolves had one foot in the Premier League.

2. Steve Bull, Wolves 3 Birmingham 2, 1996

Late winners against derby rivals are pretty unbeatable.

Paul Devlin opened the scoring in a horror show for the Wolves defence - Eric Young was nutmegged and Kevin 'daddylonglegs' Francis teed up Devlin to fire home from close range.

Don Goodman equalised with a goal strikingly similar to Alex Rae's - a pinpoint shot through the legs of a defender, after Steve Corica's decisive run and pass from midfield (!).

Barry Fry's Blues retook the lead in the most extraordinary of circumstances in what was the most unjust penalty decision seen at Molineux for many a year.

Francis, a towering gangly giant closer to 7ft than 6ft, summoned the spirit of Norman Wisdom on stilts, taking a swipe at the ball to try and score from just a few yards out. He completely missed the ball and fell over having put so much oomph into his airshot - but the referee, staring directly at the incident and with a completely clear view, astonishingly gave a spot kick. Incredulity followed but Blues scored - Devlin again, 2-1.

Whether the referee was Moseley born and bred must be up for debate, as he soon turned down a Wolves penalty despite Dean Richards being pretty blatantly hauled to the floor.

Richards, ever the improvisor, played on, overhead kick the ball directly at a Birmingham defender's hand, and even this referee couldn't turn it down. Three minutes left - Andy Thompson scores, 2-2.

Up to this juncture Steve Bull was having one of those days. He'd hit the post, whistled one inches wide and been denied by an excellent save from Dutch keeper Bart Griemink.

But you could never keep Bully down.

Last minute of the game, Simon Osborn wins the ball in midfield - and just look at Bully hare forward, already sniffing a goal.

Osborn played a delicious through ball for him to chase, over the top and slightly to the right - meat and drink for Bully.

Typically of the man, there was no controlling the ball and waiting for a team mate, no turning inside and trying to engineer the easiest possible chance to score. Bully took it first time on the slide.

Molineux erupts, Bully gives it some in front of the Blues fans, Wolves win 3-2. Marvellous.

3. Rob Hindmarch, Albion 1 Wolves 1, 1990

Sometimes a draw means just as much as a win. So it was thus for Wolves in 1990.

A year earlier Bully had returned to the Hawthorns for the first time since leaving the club in one of the most memorable Black Country derbies of modern times.

Mark Kendall saved a penalty and Wolves came from behind to win 2-1 with that man Bully netting a wonderful late winner.

Wolves repeated the scoreline at Molineux and finished 16 points above their great rivals, who struggled to avoid relegation from the old Second Division.

A year later, Albion were out for revenge.

At a boisterous Hawthorns they took the lead when Gary Bannister drilled one underneath Mike Stowell.

Retribution was in the air.

Come injury time and the whistles from the home fans were constant.

Wolves chucked the kitchen sink at the Albion defence and got what would surely be they won a free kick some 35 yards out, Bernard McNally having scythed through Keith Downing.

Rob Hindmarch didn't have much of a Wolves career.

Just 40 games in gold and black at centre half after joining from Derby County didn't really endear him to the Wolves faithful.

But what happened next to Hindmarch, who so sadly is no longer with us, would put him down in Wolves folklore.

Robbie Dennison floated in a tame deflect-this-in-if-you-can free kick - the ball went straight through to Stuart Naylor, who fumbled it, and there was Hindmarch to bundle the ball over the line.

4. Andy Keogh, Derby 2 Wolves 3, 2009

The best late goals are the most unexpected ones.

And any goal with Andy Keogh and Marlon Harewood at the heart of it is always going to be unexpected.

But this late winner meant more than most, as Wolves' 2009 promotion bandwagon hit full speed.

Keogh, the man who split opinion among Wolves fans like few other, was playing in his 39th game of the season. He'd scored three goals.

But goalscoring was never Keogh's strength - he was a link-up man - and as one of Mick McCarthy's favourites he was a key member of the side.

With Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Chris Iwelumo scoring the goals, Keogh was a luxury who could be afforded, and with Wolves top of the table the fans were happy.

But Keogh took centre stage on a special afternoon at Pride Park in 2009.

His first goal was about as out-of-the-blue as it gets. A 50ft-high Christophe Berra through ball saw Keogh repeat Rae and go all Zidane, but this time it was Zidane's famous Hampden Park Champions League final volley that Keogh recreated, taking the hoofed ball first time over the shoulder and firing Wolves in front.

Two soft Derby goals from set pieces, though, saw Wolves behind with just 15 minutes or so to go.

Then hope, with Matt Jarvis slotting home an equaliser.

A point would do Wolves but three would be dreamland.

Cue Harewood bounding down the wing and crossing for Keogh who flashed a diving header into the net for a fabulous Wolves win.

Keogh whipped his shirt off and the celebrations in the away end were as exultant as they get.

The cheers only got louder at full time when a perfect sequence of results were announced over the loud speaker - all of Wolves' promotion rivals failed to win, with Birmingham, Reading and Sheffield United all drawing.

5. David Edwards, Wolves 4 Leeds 3, 2014

It had been a barren few years for truly memorable late winners.

Successive relegations from the Premier League and Championship yielded very little excitement of note, while the League One title campaign was lacking in drama.

But just a few months ago Wolves and Leeds served up a seven-goal thriller to remember for a very long time.

Take a sunny Bank Holiday Monday, add some kamikaze defending, stupendous finishing, a promotion campaign on the line and some live TV cameras.

What a game.

After Kevin McDonald gifted Leeds the opener, Nouha Dicko edged Wolves in front with two exceptional goals - one from the most improbable of narrow angles and the other a Bully-esque first-time drive from the right of the box.

When Benik Afobe scored a third, the points were in Wolves' bag.

But, with some promotion tension possibly rearing its head, Danny Batth diverted a chip into the box past Carl Ikeme to give Leeds a way back into the game.

Nine minutes later Alex Mowatt curled a pearler into the corner and Wolves were left deflated at 3-3.

Wolves slumped. There were 15 minutes left but they barely created anything and if anything Leeds were the more likely winners.

Then McDonald picked up the ball on the left, floated a beauty into the box and Dave Edwards lept higher than ever before to glance a perfect header into the corner.

It wasn't to be for Wolves' promotion charge, but the celebrations after Edwards' winner and again at full time felt different to normal.

It was like, after a good few years away, Wolves had a young Championship team to be very, very proud of, one to properly rally behind, one that you really believed could reach the Premier League.

Long may it continue.