At the end of a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ players approached their travelling supporters with an element of trepidation. They need not have worried.

The applause flowed from the pitch to the stands and back again. When the players shaped to head back to the tunnel, head coach Rob Edwards insisted they move closer to the fans to share in the show of mutual appreciation a little longer.

This had been Wolves’ most impressive performance of a wretched season — an incredibly low bar, cleared with some ease — and Edwards seemed determined to make it count for something.

Starting on Saturday, when West Ham United and former head coach Nuno Espirito Santo visit Molineux, Wolves have half a season to manage — half of a campaign that everyone involved already knows is doomed.

And while there are many tricks they can try to ensure the next five months are vaguely bearable — from transfers to a cup run to clear, honest messaging — nothing will help prevent a complete unravelling quite like performances, and Old Trafford was an almost perfect blueprint.

“We’ve had those (post-match) scenes four times in all four away games,” said Edwards in his post-match press conference.

“I’ve gone over to the fans and 3,000 of them have been right with us every single time because they’ve seen a level of performance. Now we need to go and produce that at home.”

The point Wolves claimed in Manchester — Edwards’ first in his eighth game at the helm — makes, in truth, not an iota of difference to their hopes of staying in the Premier League.

But while Edwards cannot admit as much, staying in the Premier League is no longer the objective at Molineux.

Those hopes died when the slight improvements in his opening game at home against Crystal Palace and more noticeable advances at Aston Villa and Arsenal in his first couple of away games failed to deliver points.

The rewards at stake are less tangible but no less important. Edwards is looking to build bridges with supporters that were burned by previous regimes, while overseeing enough of an improvement that fans will buy into him as the man to lead the efforts to escape the Championship at the first time of asking next season.

Just seven games into his reign, both those goals looked far off after a combination of spirited near-misses and borderline embarrassing no-shows from his team.

After adding some footballing substance at Old Trafford to the commitment Wolves had displayed at Villa Park and the Emirates Stadium, there is a chink of light at the end of a long tunnel.

Just six weeks into his reign, Edwards needed to quieten the first murmurs of discontent and did so in a moment of extreme adversity.

With confidence on the floor and injuries and suspensions leaving his squad down to the bones, Edwards had to formulate a tactical plan with just one recognised central midfielder at his disposal.