Mick McCarthy was in buoyant mood reflecting on his teams 2-0 away victory last night against Hearts at Tynecastle.
The gaffer made several changes to his starting line up from the one used in the defeat on Saturday to Leeds United.
Kevin Doyle skippered the Wolves team as part of the 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation.
Mick was full of praise for Stephen Ward after his performance and feels the formation adopted last night is more suited to certain players at his disposal, as was demonstrated at times last season.
"It was an extremely competitive game and thought we played well, far better than the performances in the defeats to Leeds and Reading.
"I thought we were more comfortable in that formation, Stephen Ward down the left side was superb and it suits Dave Edwards playing in there.
"Doyle is comfortable playing up front on his own; he enjoys it up there on his own."
After the disappointment of Saturday, McCarthy felt the lesson dealt by Leeds would stand his side in good stead for the opener against Stoke City.
"The Reading and Leeds games gave us a kick up the backside
"On Saturday Leeds outworked us and that does not happen to my team in general.
"The games have given us a chance to look at different players but on Saturday they did to us what we usually do to them."
The Wolves boss also believes that, come the first game of the season, his players' mentality will swing back into their usual playing mode and they will step up another gear.
"I hated pre-season with a vengeance, when the first game came around I had my playing head on and the tippy tappy football went out the window."
Before the Barclays Premier League season kicks off a week on Saturday though, a number of Wolves players are set to feature for their countries in mid-week.
Reflecting on some of his international players going away at such a key stage of pre-season, the former Republic of Ireland manager is disappointed but sympathetic to the situation.
"It is a ridiculous time of the season to have a friendly, but putting my International manager's cap on, I would want my players to prepare for the qualifiers."
