Wolves fans watched on Tuesday night as Gary O’Neil’s side surrendered a 2-0 lead to Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup to lose 3-2 and go out at the third round stage.
It was a hugely disappointing result, that has left a large section of the fanbase feeling deflated.
These are tough times for Wolves fans.
A plethora of high profile players left Molineux in the summer, as well as a top-class coach in Julen Lopetegui.
For a lot of supporters right now, there is rather a hollow feeling about the club, and perhaps a longing for the good old days.
Days that saw Wolves come from behind to win games three 3-2, not throw away leads to lose them.
Just like the game against Aston Villa at Villa Park in October 2021…
The Wolves XI that beat Aston Villa from 2-0 down
Games with Villa are usually intense affairs.
They are also fairly even matched. You have to go back to 2018 for the last game one of these sides won by a margin of more than one goal.
In October 2021, Wolves went to Villa Park and were looking to leapfrog Villa in the table.
And Bruno Lage named a very interesting starting XI. Jose Sa was in goal, with a back three of Max Kilman Conor Coady and Romain Saiss ahead of him. Those players would go on to form a fairly formidable trio that season, with Kilman absolutely shining as the right centre-back.
Nelson Semedo and Fernando Marcal were the wing-backs.
In midfield, Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho partnered up in the engine as had so often been the case.
And there was a very odd-looking attack, with Adama Traore playing from the left, Leander Dendoncker playing from the right but coming inside, and Hwang Hee-chan leading the line as a central striker.
It was, honestly, one of the worst Wolves performances for a long time that day.
Danny Ings and John McGinn had put Villa 2-0 up with around 25 minutes to go.
While that was not the absolute biggest margin, Wolves were playing so poorly that Villa would surely see the game out comfortably.
This did not happen.
Incredibly, Lage’s sorry side got their act together for the final 15 minutes.
Romain Saiss grabbed a goal back from inside the six-yard area and moments later, captain Conor Coady bundled in a second.
Out of nowhere Wolves were level. And in the 95th minute, Ruben Neves prompted scenes of absolute bedlam, scoring from a free-kick from around 25 yards out.
The fact that the free-kick took a disgusting deflection, and trickled into the Villa net to the opposite side of Emi Martinez, made the moment all the more sweet.
The whole team went and celebrated with the way fans, including goalkeeper Sa, who sprinted the entire length of the field to join in.
Moments like that have been few and far between for Wolves since.
But hopefully, O’Neil can soon start to instill a bit of fight and belief into his 2023/24 crop.