They’ve got the game no one wanted out of the way, now for the match that can’t come soon enough.

My guess is that any sense of FA Cup woe among the gold and black masses pretty much evaporated as soon as the Molineux PA announcer uttered the words “Blackpool 2, Birmingham City 0” as fans filed out of Molineux on Saturday evening.

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No one who really has Wolves’ interests at heart can surely criticise the players or manager Mick McCarthy for going out of the Cup.

Or the Molineux chief for his team selection.

Not with ‘Reading away’ etched firmly into their minds anyway.

So forget that Wolves are out – if you haven’t already.

Despite the lower-than-expected attendance of 18,013 which showed where the fans’ priorities are in these difficult times, the Cup has actually done McCarthy’s squad some good this season.

Wolves have had that zip and tempo back about them for much of their last three games, and two of those have been in the world’s oldest knockout competition.

That win and performance at St Andrew’s in the third round gave Wolves more than local pride and bragging rights.

So rather than vilify McCarthy for the side he picked, the Wolves manager deserves praise for his selection in only a slightly under strength side.

Who knows, if Matt Jarvis’ 81st minute shot had gone in instead of wide with keeper Brad Jones beaten, it would almost certainly have been Wolves and not Middlesbrough’s name in the hat for yesterday’s fifth round draw.

The fact that substitute Marvin Emnes clinched a 2-1 win for Boro two minutes after Jarvis’ miss was hardly down to McCarthy’s team selection.

No one will bat an eyelid about Saturday’s team or result if Wolves avoid defeat at the Madejski Stadium tomorrow.

No one is suggesting a return of the dreaded ‘Molineux Factor’, but the weekend defeat made it three games without a win in front of their own fans.

On Saturday, they started well and were inches away from taking the lead as early as the fourth minute, when Sam Vokes just missed connecting with Reid’s free kick after Shackell flicked on.

But Boro were always dangerous on the break, and, as so often is the case against higher-ranked opposition, the difference was in the finishing.

Wolves kept them at bay for a while, but the longer the game wore on, the more likely it seemed that they would crack the home side’s resistance – and so it proved.

Wayne Hennessey had to be at his best to block Adam Johnson’s angled shot after Afonso Alves put him through. Hennessey was powerless to prevent Johnson’s next serious effort though, grounded as stand-in right-back Dave Edwards blocked on the line.

Johnson’s next effort was scrambled over by the Welsh international.

The goal they threatened had Premier League class stamped all over it as Alves chipped over the advancing Hennessey after Tuncay’s equally good reverse pass left the Brazilian clear.

Vokes’ 63rd minute equaliser – a towering header from Edwards’ cross for his first Molineux goal – gave Wolves fresh but brief hope as Boro bagged a crucial second.

Captain Karl Henry claimed he and Ebanks-Blake were fouled in the build-up to Emnes’ winner.

But despite protests, you get the impression that if the same happened tomorrow night, the calls would be far more vociferous.

Report by Tim Nash