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Nenad Milijas reckons he used to score goals just like his 30-yard stunner against Bolton on a regular basis when he was playing for Red Star Belgrade.

The Serbia captain’s matter-of-fact English could be mistaken for arrogance.

But key in his name on You Tube and you’ll see he isn’t telling porkies.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy had come under fire for the quality of some of his summer signings this year.

But when £2.6million midfielder Milijas walloped in Wolves’s second goal on the hour to seal a crucial victory for a side who were bottom of the league before kick-off, you could see why McCarthy bought him.

And it was a goal that will have made Germany’s World Cup team sit up and take notice too - they are in the same group as the Serbs in South Africa.

Milijas’s first goal for Wolves came after he made a disputed first for Jody Craddock who was clearly offside from a flicked on free-kick after a high-tempo start.

But Milijas insisted his long-range effort was par for the course and Wolves fans will be hoping for more now that the player is settling into the top flight.

“It was important for me, but at my previous club I scored a lot of goals like this,” he said.

“It’s normal. Last year, I scored 22 goals but it was an easier division. There was no pressure on me here. The only the pressure was from myself because I had played so many games. There was big pressure on the team though.

"This football is hard and different for me, but I think the goal will lift my confidence in the games coming up.

“The win was the most important thing. It was a hard week but I think we deserved it.

“If I didn’t think I could get better though, I wouldn’t have bothered coming to England to play. Every game and training session I must be better. But I always thought I was ready for the Premier League.”

Milijas maintains Wolves can stay up even though this was their first win since September and they stay in the bottom three with Bolton.

“I’ve always thought that this team will survive. I think we have good young lads who can stay up playing like this,” he said.

Milijas believes he will go to the World Cup no matter what sort of season he has with Wolves - but he refuses to consider the very real chance of playing England in the knockout stages.

“I’m not thinking about that at the moment. We’ll have to get out of our group first. The draw could have been better, could have been worse. But we played very well in qualification. We deserved to finish top,” he said.

But Wolves almost allowed Bolton to snatch a point and needed a sensational final 20 minutes from keeper Marcus Hanhemann to make sure of victory.

Hahnemann impressed in place of Wayne Hennessey and admitted the result made up for being brought down to earth after being recalled against Birmingham.

“Last week was not the start I wanted, picking the ball out of the net after two minutes. But this was such a difference. The way we came out was fantastic,” he said.

“We do have a young team and we have to learn that we must come out and play at 100 miles an hour because if we don't the other team will.

“Wayne is a fantastic keeper. He just needs to get a little bit more experience and that's one reason why I was brought in here.”

Wolves: Hanhemann 8; Stearman 7, Craddock 7, Berra 7, Ward 8; Edwards 7(Mancienne, 84mins, 5), Henry 7, Milijas 9, Jarvis 7; Ebanks-Blake 5 (Maierhofer, 80mins, 5), Doyle 6.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen 7; Steinsson 6, A. O’Brien 6, Cahill 7, Samuel 5 (Elmander 72mins, 7); Lee 5, Gardner 7, McCann 6, Cohen 6, Taylor 7; Klasnic 6.

Wolverhampton vs Bolton

Last modified 11:24 30/12/09

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The pressure is on Gary Megson but off Mick McCarthy – for the time being at least.

That was the collateral effect of this particular fight for survival between two of the Premier League's endangered species.

Wolves lifted themselves above Bolton but, boy, was it a scrappy, desperate finish at Molineux that merited a government health warning for both sets of worried fans.

McCarthy’s men clung on for their first league win since September, after surrendering a two-goal cushion with some slipshod defending in the79th minute that allowed Bolton substitute Johan Elmander to put the game on a knife-edge.

McCarthy said: “This was a fabulous response after our disappointing last game against Birmingham and just what we needed.

“We had to scrap a bit at the end, but we deserved to win.

McCarthy paid tribute to Serbian midfielder Nenad Milijas, a £2.6million summer signing from Red Star Belgrade, whose free-kick led to the

first goal before capping a splendid display with a stunning second.

“That’s the performance I’ve been looking for from Milijas,” said McCarthy. “He coped with the physical side of the game, which he was unable to do when he first arrived from Red Star. If he plays like that every week, he will be selected.”

Megson complained that Jody Craddock’s opener was blatantly offside. “It was a shocking decision,” he said. “You did not need a camera for that, it was so obvious.

“I do not feel under pressure.  Pressure is being a soldier in Afganistan or being out of work.

“Results have not gone our way recently, but we are not a million miles off being in mid-table. If we play for 90 minutes like we did for the last 20 minutes against Wolves, we will be okay.”

Bolton and Wolves were forced to come to terms with the seriousness of their plight, highlighted by news of Portsmouth’s victory just before they took to the field, but it was Wolves who wasted little time asserting their authority.

A probe by reinstated striker Kevin Doyle was broken up unceremoniously by Jody O’Brien. Milijas swung the free-kick into the heart of the penalty area, where Sylvan Ebanks-Blake just failed to make contact, but the ball fell into the path of veteran defender Craddock, whose half-volley exploded into the top corner of the Bolton net.

Ivan Klasnic, playing as  Bolton’s sole striker with  Kevin Davies suspended, had first- half chances to equalise, forcing a save from Marcus Hahnemann and sending a long range drive over the bar.

It was easy to appreciate Wolves’ suspect confidence, but any tensions should have drained away with the arrival, and pure genius, of their second goal from Milijas in the 63rd minute.

Collecting the ball deep and wide on the right flank, Milijas cut in and unleashed a left-foot rocket from 30 yards that gave Jussi Jaaskelainen no chance.

However, Wolves found themselves hanging on for dear life for the last 11 minutes after they were dragged all over the place at a corner to allow Elmander to pull a goal back.