POOR Roy Hodgson. And he thought Liverpool was a tough gig.

Eleven games to go and Albion have a tough run-in coming up.

Yet in the same way last week’s draw felt like an Albion defeat, this one felt like a win.

It needed a late Carlos Vela goal to rescue a point for the Baggies in the first top-flight Black Country derby since 1984.

But Hodgson will know there is still work to do. Albion might have left it late, and it was certainly deserved, but there is still work to do if they are to survive.

It was a result which did little for their hopes of staying up, even less for those of Wolves.

And while the stalemate will be felt across the region, it took two players with more in common with the north London derby to define the Black Country shootout.

Jamie O’Hara, on loan from Spurs, scored a stunning opener with a long-range curler to put Wolves ahead and leave them within a minute or so of their first win on Albion territory since 1996. But it wasn’t to be, with an Arsenal loanee grabbing the late equaliser.

Albion were nowhere near their best. But then they didn’t need to be. Wolves controlled the first half but rarely threatened Boaz Myhill. They only forced one corner to Albion’s 12 during the 90 minutes.

And Mick McCarthy’s decision to bring on a second striker late on, when the game needed killing off, didn’t help matters.

They enjoyed more possession during a dominant first half but the Albion comeback grew more and more inevitable as the game wore on.

The fact it took Vela until the 92nd minute said more about Albion’s poor finishing and lack of finesse in front of goal – Marc-Antoine Fortuné, while hard-working, being most guilty.

The notion that any atmosphere could be diluted with a kick-off time more suited for lunchtime church services was dispelled. The game had all the intensity you’d expect.

And it was the Baggies who put Wayne Hennessey under early pressure. Nicky Shorey delivered a long cross to the far post where Peter Odemwingie was lurking. Hennessey got a touch and although Odemwingie managed to hook the ball back, there wasn’t enough to divert it goalwards.