Wolves 2 West Brom 3: Diomansy Kamara's well-taken winner handed West Brom a crucial away win in a pulsating Championship play-off semi-final first leg at Molineux.
Both sides held the lead in a game that ebbed and flowed but was frequently dominated by the home team, but Tony Mowbray's clinical Baggies will now be confident ahead of Wednesday's return at the Hawthorns.
Kevin Phillips had given Albion the lead in the 25th minute when he rifled home from 20 yards after Gary Breen mis-kicked his clearance straight to the former Sunderland striker.
But centre-half Jody Craddock, another ex-Black Cat, rose to brilliantly glance Andy Keogh's left-wing cross into the far corner in the 44th minute to give Wolves a half-time boost.
Seyi Olofinjana collected Neill Collins' head-down to fire home from close range five minutes after the restart, but a minute later Phillips was on hand again to head in a corner at the far post and level the scores.
And the Baggies were bouncing again in the 72nd minute when Breen was once more at fault — playing Diomansy Kamara on-side and allowing the striker to home in on goal and place a shot past debut-making keeper Wayne Hennessey from an angle.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)