As Molineux basked in another famous victory over one of the Premier League’s superclubs, Gary O’Neil skipped around the pitch embracing his players.
There were hugs all round but some extra energy went into the congratulations for two of his match-winners.
The Wolves boss embraced Mario Lemina tightly before lifting Joao Gomes in the air during a lengthy bear hug.
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O’Neil, a former Premier League midfielder himself, understood just what a feat his central duo had achieved in giving Wolves ultimate dominance over a club who specialise in spending millions on midfield talent.
“We know Mario is capable of big, big performances,” said O’Neil. “I thought physically he was incredible and led the team as well, making good decisions with the ball.
“So Mario gave a top midfield performance, and then for Joao, at his age, to put in that sort of performance against that team, was fantastic.
“In the last couple of games, he has been very good.”
Filling the boots of legends is one of the toughest gigs in sport.
So when Joao Moutinho’s magical powers waned and Ruben Neves finally departed this summer, Wolves were left with a huge void to fill — both technically for the club and emotionally for their adoring fanbase.
Arguably the two best midfielders the club have had since their glory days of the 1950s are impossible to truly replace.
But if Sunday’s deserved victory over Chelsea highlighted one thing in particular, it was that Wolves have a new pair of midfield heroes who are winning their own place in the affections of the Molineux faithful in very different ways to their Portuguese predecessors.
Moutinho seduced Wolves fans with invention, touch and grace; Neves with raking passes, tempo-setting contributions and memorable, long-range goals.
But Lemina and Gomes are winning them over with an intoxicating blend of energy, tackling, hustling and harrying and — in Lemina’s case in recent weeks — goals.
The Gabon international is doing it despite the ongoing worry, which he revealed in a touching post-match tribute, of having his father seriously ill in a French hospital for the past two months.
“He’s struggling a lot right now,” said Lemina. “I hope he’s going to be all right.
“My family is around him and if he was still awake he would tell me to work hard as I always do and not worry about his situation, so that’s what I’m trying to do. But I need to have some backup with what’s happening. I need to stay strong and believe he’s going to recover.”
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Wolves fans began to find a place in their hearts for Lemina last season when he slotted in from January alongside Neves in what was, by then, clearly the Portuguese playmaker’s final few months in a Wolves shirt.
But this season, with Neves and Moutinho gone, Lemina has taken his game up a level, revelling in his new-found status as a leader, pivotal player and on-field minder for his younger, more impetuous team-mate.
Gomes is a footballing force of nature with the desire to press and tackle opponents in every moment.
While O’Neil works hard behind the scenes to add more control to the Brazilian’s natural zeal, Lemina has made it his mission to mop up around his partner and plug any holes that Gomes’ natural enthusiasm might leave.
“I have to adapt, but I like the way he plays — the way he wants to press high and get to players to make pressure, so I try to be behind him and adjust so we’re balanced and it’s working well.”
And the Chelsea victory was a classic story of midfield dovetailing — Lemina bossing the game in the latter stages of the first half with a combination of solid tackles and intelligent positioning, plus his third goal of the season, before Gomes took over in the second, making life a misery for Chelsea’s players with his tireless pressing, which continued long after most of his team-mates seemed to be running on empty.
And O’Neil still sees much room for improvement in the 22-year-old.
“We’re working on stuff that needs fault or structure,” said the Wolves boss. “In the chaos, he’s really good and has fantastic energy.
“The number of times he wins the ball back, the number of times he picks up loose balls is an incredible knack.
“We’re working on him being a little bit more secure in certain situations, understanding where we need him a little bit more, being a little bit cleaner technically because sometimes he can be a bit scruffy when he passes.
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“They sound like criticisms but they’re not; they’re just stuff that we can improve with him.”
Lemina registered nine ball recoveries throughout the game and Gomes managed seven, several of which came deep in Chelsea territory.
Lemina threatened at times to match his season’s best tally of 13 recoveries (in the home draw against Newcastle United) despite soldiering on through a shoulder injury that was clearly causing him discomfort.
“I’m not scared by the struggle,” he said afterwards. “I have a little bit of pain in my shoulder, but it is what it is and I will fight for the team to the end. That has always been my mentality.”
Neves’ departure was the highest profile of a summer in which Wolves made a transfer-window profit of more than £80million, in part to ensure their compliance with the Premier League’s financial fair play guidelines.
It led to the departure of an exasperated boss in Julen Lopetegui and saw them installed by many pundits as serious relegation candidates.
So 11th place in the Premier League at Christmas with 22 points from 18 games represents a significant over-achievement by O’Neil and his players in just his second season in management.
And at the heart of the rise are a couple of new fans’ favourites, doing their damndest to prove there is life after a pair of legends.
(Top photo: David Rogers/Getty Images)
