Wolves are hoping Chris Iwelumo's red card will be rescinded after Preston defender Sean St Ledger pleaded his case at the end of an action-packed afternoon at Deepdale.

Chris was the hat trick hero as Wolves produced another stunning display to win 3-1 and end Preston's unbeaten record but shortly after completing his treble was dismissed following a clash with Sean.

There was still more drama to come with Wayne Hennessey sent off in injury time for bringing down Neil Mellor - who slotted home the penalty - to reduce Wolves to nine men.

And all this after Mick McCarthy had been asked to sit behind the dugout for the second half having shown his support for referee Martin Atkinson by applauding him off at the  interval.

At this stage Wolves are unlikely to pursue any appeal on Wayne's sending off, and Mick is awaiting the referee's report in terms of his own banishment from the dugout, but they are hoping that Chris's red card will be rescinded thanks to Sean's honest intervention.

"It was a strange afternoon for Chris," Mick reflected.

"He played exceptionally well, scored a hat trick and got the match ball, and then got sent off!

"St Ledger has been in to see the referee to say that nothing happened and you can't get a better witness than that.

"All credit to him, he's been up against a player who's given him a real battle and has scored a hat trick and yet he's still gone in to see the referee.

"It was nothing, not a clash of heads, anything, and bearing in mind the witness is the other player involved I would hope the sensible thing will be done and it will get rescinded."

On Wayne's injury time dismissal, which will see the keeper suspended for Saturday's game with Bristol City, Mick explained:  "There may have been defenders around but I've spoken to the assessor and the letter of the law is that if you deny someone a goalscoring opportunity you are sent off.

"I think it was a goalscoring opportunity, I think Mellor would have put the ball in the net, so while Wayne is understandably upset I'm not sure we've got a case."

Mick oversaw the two dismissals from behind the dugout after applauding the referee off at half time.

"Martin asked me to go and sit in the stand for the second half," the boss explained.

"We had a polite conversation and he knew why I was applauding but maybe it was because of the way the crowd responded to me.

"I was just trying to show my support for him because I thought he'd done well in the first half.

"It's not easy to give decisions when the crowd is frustrated and putting pressure on you but I wanted to show my appreciation for him because there was a chance of becoming intimidated.

"I'll just have to wait for his report but I must be the first person ever asked to sit in the stand for applauding a referee so maybe I won't do it again!"

Those talking points aside, Mick was otherwise delighted with another scintillating display from his team who recorded a sixth successive Championship win to open up a three point gap at the top of the table.

"Results always don't tell the story but I think that one does," he said.

"It's great to come here and win as we did and it's just a shame there are now other things being talked about.

"It was a fabulous result and I think true football fans will realise what a good game it was and indeed a section of Preston supporters applauded us off.

"We deserved to win, there's no argument on that, but it just ended up as being such a bizarre game."

PICTURED: Chris fires home the second half penalty which completed his hat trick.

* THIS afternoon's drama can be re-lived on ITV's Championship programme tomorrow, beginning at 10.50am.