Wolverhampton Wanderers 5 Nottingham Forest 1

The two prospective signings sat in the stands to witness Wolves’ most convincing victory under Mick McCarthy’s management were actually defenders and not wingers as the Molineux boss had quipped.

Which is just as well because any wannabe widemen charged with the task of displacing Michael Kightly and Matt Jarvis on this form would be as frightened as the Nottingham Forest full-backs.

Kightly and Jarvis were so devastating, particularly in the best 45 minutes of first half football Wolves have produced for many years, that they will have few equals in the division their team now leads.

It was not only Molineux’s twin terrors, however, who destroyed newly promoted Nottingham. Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake completed their fearsome forward foursome while David Jones gave a midfield master-class.

Jones, the former Manchester United protégé, got the ball rolling by bending in his first goal in the old gold and black of Wolves before the quarter hour mark with a 25-yard strike after effective approach play from Ebanks-Blake and Iwelumo to open the floodgates.

A whipped in free-kick by Jones led to the second 15 minutes later when Forest goalkeeper Paul Smith’s only way of dealing with the deadly right-wing delivery was to punch it onto the back of Wes Morgan’s head for an unfortunate own goal by the Forest defender.

Then it was the Kightly and Jarvis show as the former had a penalty appeal rejected, rattled the crossbar with a cracker and had a shot from the latter’s pull-back deflected wide before getting his reward with a 25-yard thunderbolt which went in off the woodwork on 43 minutes.

For the third on the stroke of half-time, Jarvis could not get on the scoresheet for the goal he so deserved, but he assisted Iwelumo in the same way Ernie Wise used to assist Eric Morecambe by setting up the cheerful scenario before his colleague delivered the punchline.

Kightly continued by bringing Wolves more sunshine than they have basked in since the six goals they put past Gillingham in their promotion season six years ago with a 62nd minute fifth which rivalled his first strike for the title of goal of the game.

His measured missile into the top left hand corner from well outside the area was the highlight of an anti-climactic second-half but Wolves could be forgiven for easing off after already accumulating enough goals to shift Birmingham off the top of the Championship table.

The second-half score was 1-1 because by then Colin Calderwood’s newly-promoted team had grabbed a consolation goal via a deflection off Wolves defender Kevin Foley after a Neill Collins clearance from a corner struck his unfortunate team-mate in the face.

But that was the only time Forest had parity with Wolves who have overcome the alphabetic handicap of starting the season at the bottom by using their attacking advantage to storm to the top on the back of three wins, a draw and a 13-goal flurry.

Obvious concerns about their defensive frailties were answered with a determined display by a makeshift backline which included the surprisingly effective stand-in Stephen Ward at left-back.

Ward is usually a winger but with Kightly and Jarvis terrorising teams in tandem, the Irish workhorse has been forced to reinvent himself to keep his place on McCarthy’s Molineux promotion bandwagon.

Whether Saturday spectators and soon to be signed and sealed newcomers Jason Shackell, of Norwich, and Preston’s Matt Hill will be able to dislodge Ward and Co is a dilemma the manager will gladly contemplate from pole position in the Championship table.   

Goals - Wolves: David Jones 14, Morgan 29 og, Kightly 43, Iwelumo 45, Kightly 62; Forest: Stearman og 55

Wolverhampton (4-4-2): Hennessey; Foley, Stearman, Collins, S Ward; Kightly (Gray 77), Jones, Henry, Jarvis (Edwards 66); Iwelumo, Ebanks-Blake (Keogh 65). Subs not used: D Ward, Ikeme.
Forest (4-3-3): Smith; Chambers (Wilson 71), Morgan, Breckin, Bennett; Perch (McCleary 71), Moussi, Cohen; Tyson (Cole 71), Earnshaw, Martin. Subs not used: Thornhill, Roberts.
Attendance: 25,301.
Referee: Grant Hegley (Hertfordshire).