JUST when the ghost of Iwan Roberts was about to be exorcised once and for all... along comes a bobble of gargantuan proportions that served up an almighty goalkeeping clanger.

It had all looked so good...

Frank Skinner was choking on a packet of Stephen Fry’s Comic Relief crisps. Julie Walters, Lenny Henry, Floella Benjamin, Cat Deeley, Leslie Crowther.... you guys took one helluva beating.

Adrian Chiles was looking even glummer than normal.

Ninety-two minutes in and Albion and Wolves were level on points and goal difference, only goals scored keeping Albion on top.

Then despair. Utter despair.

Poor Wayne Hennessey. The Welshman scooped James Morrison’s grubber into his own knees.

The ball rises into the air and bang! A dream dies.

Cue delirium. A yellow smoke bomb hurled, it appears from the inside of a cuddly toy, into some home fans and a coin hurled into the away fans where it appeared to strike a middle-aged woman there simply to watch a game of football.

She’d paid £40 for the privilege.

Bragging rights even but certainly a far bigger point for Albion.

Hennessey couldn’t have put the ball on a plate any better for Carlos Vela had he donned a black suit, put it on a silver salver and offered a side plate of chips whilst asking if he wanted to see the wine list.

So Vela became the hero, knocking Jamie O’Hara from his lofty perch.

Late heart-break has followed Wolves around the block like an unwanted stalker this season. For 92 minutes at Albion, read 92 minutes at Bolton. There have been plenty of other game-changing late setbacks: Manchester United (twice), Fulham, Tottenham and Villa. But none, not even Ronald Zubar’s horrific backpass at the Reebok, will have been as gut-wrenching as this.

Mick McCarthy put on a brave face post-match. He knew full well that Matt Jarvis should have won it with a golden chance at the beginning of the second half.

Jarvis’ shot squirmed wide.