Wolves manager Mick McCarthy was pleased with his team's performance during their 5-2 defeat to Manchester City in the Carling Cup.
The Midlands side had taken the lead at Molineux before the Premier League leaders came back to secure a comfortable fourth round win.
McCarthy believes that Wolves can take plenty of positives away from the match ahead of a Premier League fixture with the same opponents on Saturday.
"I was pleased with our performance – that sounds crazy, doesn't it, when you've got beat five?" said McCarthy.
"We started well and deserved the lead and the fact that we couldn't hang on to it was nothing to do with us defending badly, so that made a pleasant change.
"It was just a great finish when it came out to Adam Johnson. City won't be made to work harder than they were tonight, that's for sure."
Wolves made nine changes from the side that drew 2-2 with Swansea at the weekend.
Wolves are winless in six league matches ahead of their visit to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.