Five talking points: Wolves' response, Dawson the rock and pace

Toti Gomes netted the only goal of the game in a crucial victory for Julen Lopetegui's side.

Here are five talking points to come out of Wolves' derby day win:

Response required - response delivered

After a defeat like Wolves suffered at Brighton they needed a response in terms of their performance.

To get the result as well as the performance was the perfect response from Wolves' players.

They stood up to all that Villa threw at them and had moments of quality themselves. Compared to the Brighton fiasco it was night and day

Pressing success

For large parts of the game Wolves had to sit in and defend - but early on they had success while pressing.

On two or three occasions in the opening 15 minutes of the game Wolves snatched possession off Villa in the final third.

All that was missing was a final bit of quality to carve out a chance, but it was an early area of success for Lopetegui's men.

Pace up top

Diego Costa played a key role in this win. He held the ball up well and helped to drag Wolves up the pitch when they were under pressure.

Matheus Cunha also showed bright sparks, dancing through the Villa back line in the first half but he lacked an end product.

One thing that stood out was a lack of pace up top for Wolves.

With two up top and in games like this one, where Wolves have to soak up spells of pressure, having an out ball and pace over the top can be helpful.

Pedro Neto did stretch the game at times in the second half - but having a central striker with pace would strengthen Wolves' front line.

It could be something Lopetegui and his staff look at in the summer.

Defensively solid

After last week, a Wolves clean sheet will have certainly been a coupon buster for some.

But aside from an Ollie Watkins header and Tyrone Mings' guilt edged second half chance - Wolves were solid and rarely gave much away.

They crowded Villa out when they tried to play through them and anything from wide areas became a magnet to the head of Craig Dawson.

He was key in this win - he was the rock Wolves needed and a base to build on after an awful defensive display at Brighton.

Quality from the wide areas

They didn't get into dangerous areas time after time - but they did in spells during the first period and on the odd occasion in the second.

However, when they did, the delivery wasn't there and it let Wolves down.

Cunha and Costa both had good chances - but with a better delivery from wide areas they could have had more.

A second goal wasn't required in this one - but moving forward and into next season that won't always be the case.