'Pressure inside Molineux may start to build after final games'

"If the season had gone another way, coming here and losing 5-1 at this stage could have been an absolute disaster," said Gary O'Neil after a testing evening at Manchester City last weekend. "It isn't, because of the work that has been done."

Wolves will meet their home supporters for the final time this season on Saturday, and they can be pretty confident of the reception their fans will give them.

After a season where they have not merely avoided 'disaster' - but proved capable of challenging even the most fancied sides in the Premier League - fans who feared the worst in August were soon reassured.

"We appreciate their backing and their following," said O'Neil. "I hope they understand how much of a success and how much work the players have put in to get the season to the point that it is."

With his touchline ban now out of the way, he spent most of the City game whispering conspiratorially into a microphone, as if he were sending information back to MI6 rather than his assistant Tim Jenkins.

Now, he can look forward to thanking the faithful fans on the field after Saturday's game against Crystal Palace.

However, he won't be allowing the players to treat it as a lap of honour. The run of results throughout March and April that saw Wolves drift away from the European places, which briefly seemed within reach, wounded O'Neil and his players - unkindly, given the pre-season expectations.

While there were clear reasons for the decline, as we have read and heard O'Neil spell out many times, the standards have still been set high.

Although their effort was beyond reproach, O'Neil was by no means pleased with their performance against Manchester City.

He was regretting the "terrible... crazy mistakes", though it could certainly be argued that those mistakes came from good intentions, such as trying to play with ambition rather than merely sitting back and hoping to fend off the champions, which left no tolerance for errors.

But, as O'Neil noted, Wolves' final home game will be free of the stresses faced by other teams below them in the Premier League.

The real pressure inside Molineux might start to build after the final games, when we see how Wolves respond to O'Neil's wish for them to be better-equipped to cope with the rigours of the league next season.

Listen to live commentary of Wolves v Crystal Palace on BBC Radio WM at 15:00 BST on Saturday

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