Wayne Hennessey's late penalty save earned Wolves a point in a fiercely contested Black Country derby.
Wolves keeper saves late Gera penalty
Wayne Hennessey's late penalty save earned Wolves a point in a fiercely contested Black Country derby with West Brom at the Hawthorns.
The Wanderers goalkeeper dived low to his right to deny Zoltan Gera from the spot in the 84th minute after Neill Collins had pulled Baggies substitute Craig Beattie's shirt.
The Wales international had earlier produced another stunning stop to push Filipe Teixeira's shot onto the post as Mick McCarthy's side stubbornly held on to leave Albion five points behind leaders Watford.
Buoyed by a rousing reception from the home support it was the Baggies who began the brighter.
Dangerous
Northern Ireland winger Chris Brunt saw plenty of the ball early on and Jody Craddock did well to cut out his dangerous cross destined for Ishmael Miller.
Miller looked a constant threat with his pace and power but the on-loan Manchester City forward was closely guarded by Jody Craddock and when given a rare sight of goal fired straight at Hennessey.
Yet despite being on the back foot for the opening half hour, it was the visitors, who have now won on their travels just once in their last eight attempts, who almost made the breakthrough.
Craddock demonstrated his value at the other end when he rose highest to meet Stephen Ward's corner but his header flew the wrong side of the left post.
Wanderers grew in confidence and finished the stronger. Michael Kightly served notice of his growing reputation when he deceived Paul Robinson before whipping in a wonderful ball which should have been converted by Seyi Olofinjana, but the Nigerian's diving header was wide of the left post.
Fingertips
The second period failed to deliver the same intensity but only Hennessey's fingertips prevented Teixeira from giving West Brom the lead when he superbly tipped the midfielder's curling effort onto the left post.
Referee Chris Foy was again called into action to separate the two sides when tempers boiled over following Teixeira's late challenge on Darren Ward, for which he received a booking.
Hennessey again came to the rescue to deny Beattie from close range before Freddy Eastwood, on after Kightly limped off, had his first real sniff of a chance 12 minutes from time, but he fired straight at Dean Kiely and again there was no support to follow up the rebound.
Robinson missed a golden opportunity from skipper Jonathan Greening's corner when he rose unmarked but headed wide of the right post as Albion stepped up their search for a winner.
That appeared on the cards when they were handed a late penalty but Hennessey ensured they were forced to settle for a point.
