Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Stoke City 0
As far as last night's programme of football across Europe was concerned, this was most definitely not the main event.
But there was major disappointment in the Black Country that it should prove such a non-event.
After the thrill of three straight wins, to trumpet his team's re-emergence as a promotion force, Glenn Hoddle has now suffered the frustration of back-to-back goalless bores. And Wolverhampton Wanderers' unwanted tag of being the Championship's draw specialists has been reinstated.
It was 15 months to the night since Hoddle was appointed following the sacking of Dave Jones. But, in 61 league games, he has now overseen 31 draws. And, on this occasion, Wolves were lucky that Stoke City got nil.
If it had not been for Stefan Postma's breathtaking early second-half save to deny Stoke stopper Clint Hill,
Wolves would have lost. And the familiar chorus of boos that greeted Hoddle's boring, under-performing side at the final whistle would have been even louder.
For all the mass disappointment, Wolves' latest draw keeps them within a mere point of the play-off pack, following Preston North End's goalless draw at Plymouth Argyle. And, just in time for Saturday's return of Jones to Molineux, it took Hoddle's side back above Cardiff City. But it was still hard to escape the conclusion that the Molineux punters would have been better served if referee Brian Curson had been panicked into a late postponement.
Little over an hour before kick-off, the game was in real doubt.
A diet of 24 hours of rain, topped up by a fierce late afternoon downpour, had left the Molineux playing surface with the consistency of a treacle sponge.
By half-time, most of the surface water threatening the game at 6.30 had filtered through. But Darren Anderton gave his own verdict, lasting just 12 minutes before he disappeared down the tunnel with a "tight hamstring".
Actually, he wasn't a bad judge.
Not only was the Barcelona-Chelsea game on telly, for the benefit of anyone not daft enough to go out on such a cold, horrid night, but highlights here were sporadic.
Let's face it, Molineux these days is no Nou Camp.
Skipper Paul Ince had been put on the bench, seemingly looking for a night off, until Anderton's sharp exit. But he at least made a quick impact, clipping over a free-kick from which Kenny Miller was disappointed not to make a better connection with a right-foot volley.
Carl Cort lobbed just wide after latching on to Hill's mistimed back header. And, at the other end, Postma was equal to Paul Gallagher's low shot.
Postma then made arguably the best save of his four-month stint as Wolves No 1 with a superb reflex tip-over to deny Hill. And Gallagher almost won it for the visitors with the last kick of the game.
But, for a side with supposed promotion ambitions, Wolves offered far too little.
Lee Naylor's cross did hit the top of the bar and Jeremie Aliadiere set hearts aflutter when he almost latched on to a nicely weighted Mark Kennedy knockdown. But the rest was utterly forgettable.
It's hard to imagine Jones' return at the weekend will be so easy to forget. But, on this evidence, with three West Bromwich Albion old boys in his team, not to mention former Wolves winger Kevin Cooper, Jones should have every reason to be looking forward to it.
