Wolves 3 Preston 2 – Five talking points

Goals from Ivan Cavaleiro and Leo Bonatini put Wolves in charge but the visitors mounted a late fightback and it was a nervy finish for Wolves.

They now face three away games in a row, starting with tomorrow's trip to face Manchester City.

So what did we learn from the game? Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five talking points.

Different manner of victory

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as Nuno’s versatile team are proving.

In Wolves’ three successive wins they’ve blitzed Burton in a demolition derby, outmanoeuvred Villa in a tactical chess match and now seen off Preston in what was – quite literally at times – a brutish boxing match.

There was no knockout blow from Wolves here though. They landed a couple of lusty blows midway through the contest but ended up punch-drunk on the ropes in the final rounds and only just about edged it on points.

This was a surreal afternoon at Molineux, with a stinker of a first half preceding a thrilling second period which contained four goals, a red card, two melees and a grandstand finish.

But in contrast to the Burton and Villa victories this was a tough watch at times.

As against Millwall and Barnsley last month Wolves had to grind it out. For the first time since the opening day win over Middlesbrough (another match where they were clinging on at the end) Wolves saw less of the ball than the opposition at home, with Preston having 56 per cent possession.

The swashbuckling performances will likely become few and far between during the crucial winter months and being able to see it through when not playing well will stand Wolves in very good stead.

Fulham were the best footballing team in the league last season but finished sixth and didn't go up. Newcastle were the best team at grinding out results...and went up as champions.

For all the artistry and flair that Wolves have served up it's ultimately Newcastle who are their template, not the Cottagers, and so far Nuno's team are proving they can be both.

Rubbish ref

The whole shooting match was depressingly dominated by a referee who miserably failed to keep a lid on what was always going to be a tempestuous affair, what with Preston’s penchant for fouls and bookings (they top the league table for both) and Wolves’ pleasing new-found refusal to be bullied.

Steve Martin was the man in the middle. You might remember him from such poor refereeing performances as...last month’s visit of Bristol City, when he again managed to irk both managers.

Martin’s film star namesake got his big break in the 1979 comedy The Jerk...well this felt like a remake.

A succession of Preston fouls went unnoticed or unpunished, while the visitors complained about the penalty decision that put Wolves 2-0 ahead and an alleged elbow by Leo Bonatini.

He set his stall out early on when not booking Josh Earl for wiping out Matt Doherty...thereafter the standard had been set.

And has anyone seen a player sent off twice before? Poor Alan Browne was just pouring the bubble bath for his early soak when he was hauled back onto the pitch in a farcical and bizarre pantomime moment.

First time around Martin was reaching for his cards so Browne obviously left the field...but the whole thing epitomised the 'look at me' attitude that so many referees adopt these days.

Martin’s deficiencies shouldn’t detract from what was a poor Wolves performance and a fortunate victory.

But it highlighted yet again the awful standard of refereeing in the Championship. The league has got faster, fitter and stronger and stakes are higher, yet the referees haven't improved one iota in recent years. If anything they've got worse.

Bountiful Bonatini

Publicly Wolves put a brave face on their August striker mishap but privately there was deep disappointment they hadn’t accrued any of their many targets, leaving Leo Bonatini as the sole first-team traditional striker at Nuno's.

However the Brazilian is increasingly looking like the man Wolves needed after all.

That's four goals in three games for Bonatini and seven for the season. With seven goals and four assists he's contributed to 11 goals – the next best total in the Championship is eight (six players have reached that figure, including Diogo Jota).

Not bad for a player on loan from Al Hilal that no one here had heard of three months ago and didn't even have a pre-season.

With an excellent first touch, a good awareness of space and where his team mates are, impressive vision, great hold-up play and an understanding of how to link the play, Bonatini is tailor made for that lone striker role when he’s got the likes of Jota, Ivan Cavaleiro, Helder Costa and the wing backs feeding off his creativity.

Wolves will of course still need another striker in January. But as the weeks have gone on their approach may have changed to looking for someone to support Bonatini, not start ahead of him.

Individual errors

The mood in and around the tunnel at full time was hardly one of euphoria.

You suspect that Nuno, who offered hardly any praise in his post-match interviews, gave them a dressing down in the dressing room.

Wolves were 3-0 up and coasting with 25 minutes left but came close to letting two points slip.

Indeed that Browne red card not only reduced Preston to 10 men, it also quelled their momentum due to a three-minute stoppage. For the previous five to 10 minutes they'd swarmed all over Wolves like flies and an equaliser seemed inevitable.

A number of individual errors didn't help Wolves' cause. The otherwise impressive Danny Batth let Jordan Hugill get half a yard for the first goal, Roderick Miranda allowed the ball to drop over his head for the second where Tom Barkhuizen ghosted inside Barry Douglas to drive the ball off Conor Coady into the net.

Miranda and Douglas in particular had poor games and the whole team were generally sloppy at clearing their lines as they struggled to cope with Preston's effective high-pressing game.

Plenty of lessons to be learned, then.

Big two weeks

When said and done Wolves’ winning habit when not at their best resurfaced yet again to ensure they came out on top and remain top of the pile.

There’s a big two weeks coming up ahead of the next international break with trips to Premier League leaders Manchester City in the Carabao Cup and then QPR and Norwich away in the league before a Friday night visit from Fulham.

More stern tests of their promotion credentials, but right now Wolves look equipped to deal with whatever’s thrown at them.

They've earned 29 points from their 13 matches so far. It took them until January 2, 25 matches into the season, to reach that number in 2016/17.

Wolves are very much on track.