Nottingham Forest 0 Wolves 1: Full time report
Ebanks-Blake fired over not long after but both defences were well and truly on top during the opening quarter.
And neither keeper was called upon to make a real save of note after that as the first half was brought to a tame close.
Forest started the second half on the front foot but it did not last long.
McCarthy introduced Andy Keogh in place of Stephen Ward in the 54th minute in an attempt to bring more of an attacking threat out of his side.
But the start of the second half failed to deliver in much the same way as the opening 45 minutes.
On-loan Birmingham winger Gary McSheffrey fired over from the edge of the penalty area in the 65th minute. Both benches could sense one goal would settle the clash and that forced Davies to bring on Nathan Tyson and Garath McCleary, while McCarthy turned to Sam Vokes and Edwards.
And the latter double substitution worked wonders.
Ebanks-Blake picked up the ball 20 yards from goal and drove down the right side of the penalty area before squaring the ball across the six-yard line to Vokes.
He kept his marker at bay before laying the ball off to Kightly who fired a low drive past the despairing Turner and into the corner to send the visiting fans and the away bench into raptures.
Ebanks-Blake then saw his effort cleared off the line by Joel Lynch while Keogh's speculative 45-yard effort flew over the bar.
But it did not matter as McCarthy greeted the final whistle with a pumped fist to the air.
