Wolves fightback is too late

'But we got what we deserved over the two games and I wasn't even nervous in the final minutes. When you've worked with these players this long, then nine times out of 10 you know what's going to happen and they didn't let me down. I said at the start of the season that it would be reasonable to expect us to finish eighth or ninth. Well, we've surpassed that and now we are a week away from being able to put our feet up and regard ourselves as a Premiership club again.'

Thirteen defeats away from Carrow Road this season had given the home faithful reason to believe that Wolves could set their own record.

Never before had a two-goal deficit been overturned in a First Division play-off semi-final. And while Norwich defended resolutely in fairness, chances were at a premium until Cooper swung his left boot from long range to beat Robert Green.

It marked a sad end to a season that had promised so much. At the beginning of March, Wolves held an 11-point advantage over their nearest rivals West Bromwich for the second automatic promotion spot.

But as the weeks passed, the confidence that had elevated them to such a lofty position was gradually eroded away, culminating in that last day kick-in-the-teeth when Albion secured promotion.

Jones said: 'It will take me a long time to get this out of my system. Probably until this time next year. But I will learn from it. I hope we will be stronger for this - if we don't learn from this, we will want shooting. I still feel we have had a fantastic season but there's a lot of room for improvement. We know that.

'We have to look at the season as a whole and find the reasons as to what went wrong to make us better and stronger.

'There's a lot that should be said, and I will say it but this isn't the right time. I'm gutted. We have lost the tie and I want to make sure that whatever I say is the right thing.'

It could have been different had Green not produced his only real outstanding save of the match in the 17th minute. Craig Fleming's clearance from Shaun Newton's rightwing cross was met by Nathan Blake but the keeper somehow dived to his right to keep out the Wales international's point-blank header.

There were scares in front of home keeper Michael Oakes, too, most notably eight minutes later when he blocked Clint Easton's header from Mark Rivers' cross as the visitors looked for the goal that would have killed the tie stone dead.

Even the introduction of Republic of Ireland winger Mark Kennedy failed to bring the Wolves breakthrough. He had been held back until half-time as he was only halffit, but the gamble looked to have backfired until Cooper struck his magnificent, swerving drive from way outside the area.

But it was too little, too late and the Norfolk hordes went wild at the final whistle. 'I've never been to Cardiff,' said Worthington. Well, he is going now and don't Wolves know it.