Matt Maher: Defining moments here for Wolves and Albion

That is good news for Albion, still in with a chance of making the Championship play-offs and winning a promotion which would, at least in the short-term, ease fears over the club’s financial health.

It is less so for Wolves, who by now might have hoped to have pulled away from the Premier League relegation scrap in which they remain very much involved.

When Julen Lopetegui’s men came from behind to beat Southampton on February 11 they were five points clear of the bottom three. Victory at home to Bournemouth the following weekend would have left them probably needing just three wins from the remaining 15 matches to achieve safety.

Instead, they lost to the Cherries and with just one win in six matches since, the gap to the drop zone is back down to a single point and the margin for error much tighter. Three wins is still the number needed to escape but now with just nine matches to go.

Observers who feared a team lacking a consistent source of goals was always going to find it tough to pull decisively away from trouble are being proved correct.

Unless Lopetegui can quickly solve a problem which has now blighted Wolves for nearly three years, the likelihood is their fight for survival is heading to the wire.

That is no good for the nerves of supporters in the stands, or those in the boardroom who sanctioned a big outlay on players over the past two transfer windows without the team getting noticeably better.

For all the justified frustration at some of the officiating in their matches, it might also help if every match was not followed by an FA charge for misbehaviour.

The positive news for Wolves is the inconsistency of everyone else involved in the battle at the bottom. Bournemouth’s win at Molineux was the only points they have picked up on the road since mid-October, while Nottingham Forest are winless in eight with Steve Cooper this week receiving the dreaded vote of confidence from owner Evangelos Marinakis.

Leicester, meanwhile, looked shorn of confidence against Villa on Tuesday and may have left it too late in sacking Brendan Rodgers. West Ham will no doubt be fretting they have erred in keeping faith with David Moyes after Wednesday’s 5-1 home thrashing by Newcastle.

Compared to the panic elsewhere, Wolves almost look serene but a serious inquest is required even if Premier League status is maintained, after a season which has fallen a long way beneath expectations.

It will be nothing compared to the conversations which will take place at The Hawthorns should Albion fail to win promotion.

The publication this week of the club’s latest set of accounts laid bare the outlook, with the admittance from both directors and auditors there is a “material uncertainty present which may cast significant doubt about the group and company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

It should really comes as little surprise, considering everything we already knew, though it is still frightening to see it set out in black and white. The question frequently asked by worried supporters and observers in recent months is how the club would be funded without Premier League parachute payments? That £20million loan from MSD Holdings will only stretch so far.

Part of the solution, according to the directors’ report included in the accounts, will be to generate funds from player sales. But that is far from an exact science and it is not as though the Baggies are overburdened with players who would attract significant fees from the Premier League or abroad.

The directors’ report signs off with the claim they “remain confident the group will generate sufficient resources to meet its liabilities”. These are, presumably, the same directors who were confident controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai would repay the £5million he still owes the club by the most recent New Year deadline? While no-one doubts the effort of those working on the ground at The Hawthorns to keep the ship above water, faith among supporters is understandably in short supply.

For much of the past few months the performances of Carlos Corberan’s team have provided a welcome distraction to the off-field worries. True, the Spaniard was not able to maintain the stunning form from his first three months in charge but the fact is the Baggies, one spot off the bottom when he took charge, would have been out of the running long before now were it not for his efforts.

The next few days are huge. Albion, five points adrift of the top six, can probably afford no less than a maximum haul from today’s trip to Rotherham and Monday’s home fixture with QPR. Five wins from the remaining eight matches would give the Baggies a sniff, while six would probably be enough. It’s tricky, particularly with a growing injury list, yet not impossible.

Even promotion would not instantly solve the long-term ownership issue and fact Albion are a club in desperate need of new direction at the top. Lai’s first and biggest mistake was paying way over the odds for his shareholding in the first place and his only chance of getting it back is if the Baggies return to the Premier League and stay there for several years.

It is a headache, however, the club would love to have. The alternative to promotion this year looks an increasingly scary prospect.