DRIED seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavour, colour, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth.

That’ll be the spice. And there was bucketloads of it.

‘Sub-plots’, as Mick McCarthy alluded to during his address to the local media last week, abound in football.

‘A player went to school with somebody, or someone went out with someone else’s girlfriend’.

Who’s the joker who mentioned John Terry?

Or someone effectively accused your team of being a bunch of supercharged rhinos intent on causing mayhem.

Step forward Mr Pumped Up 2011, Danny Murphy.

Or someone tackled somebody and broke their leg. Errrrrmmm Karl Henry? Even though it wasn’t a foul.

Or someone took a call on his mobile as the deadline clock ticked to one minute to midnight offering him shedloads more wonga to sign for somebody else. Is that you Steve Sidwell? To be fair, it was Bishops Park on the Thames or the boating lake on West Park.

But clearly sub-plots bring out some good in Wolves. It may not have brought out the very best of outcomes but safety remains in their own hands.

A point at Stoke and all of a sudden the horizon will look rather less cloudy.

The funny thing is Murphy wasn’t far wrong all along. And the day when Wolves decide not to be ‘pumped up’ is the day when they wave the white flag.

Heaven knows where Steven Fletcher summoned up the character or the wherewithal to constantly out-muscle Brede Hangeland, a monster of a player who looks like he’s been plucked straight from a Wes Craven movie.

Perhaps he just doesn’t like Fulham? Perhaps he viewed the £100,000 spent on the Michael Jackson statue as a step too far?

Henry looked as if he had a point to prove, or probably two.