Mrs Warnock’s dream the cause of Wolves’ pain

It was a night that left Wolves fans in utter disbelief – and it turns out it was all down to a dream Neil Warnock’s wife had.

Crystal Palace's Danny Butterfield (right) celebrates completing his hatrick with his team mate Shaun Derry (left) during the FA Cup Fourth Round match at Selhurst Park, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday February 2, 2010. Photo credit should read: Rebecca Naden/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Use subject to restrictions. Editorial print use only except with prior written approval. New media use requires licence from Football DataCo Ltd. Call +44 (0)1158 447447 or see www.pressassociation.com/images/restrictions for full restrictions.

An FA Cup fourth-round replay against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in 2010 saw Danny Butterfield, a right-back by trade, play up front and score a perfect six-minute hat-trick to knock Wolves out.

He first found the net in the 62nd minute and, by the 68th, he had broken the record for the Eagles’ fastest-ever treble to seal a 3-1 victory.

Now, former Palace man Darren Ambrose has revealed the decision to play Butterfield as a striker against Mick McCarthy’s men was because Warnock’s wife, Sharon, had dreamt the night before that his right-back would score the winner.

And with the hosts short of options in attack, he went with it.

Ambrose recalled Warnock’s unique approach as he said on TalkSPORT: “We were playing Wolves in the FA Cup. We’d got a draw away and then played them at home.

“We got in, all sat down, and Neil said ‘right, my wife Sharon, she’s had a dream last night’.

“No-one really laughed as that was what he was like.

“He said ‘she dreamt my right-back scores the winning goal today’.

“We were like OK, so he said ‘Danny Butterfield, you’re playing up front’. He weren’t even the right-back at the time. He was more of a fringe player as Nathaniel Clyne was playing.

“We all started laughing but he was like ‘no, I’m being serious’.

“I was taking kick-off with him and even then, I was looking over to the bench and thinking ‘gaffer, this is a joke, put him back to right-back’.

“I think about 12 minutes later, he had a perfect hat-trick. We won the game 3-1 – left, right, header.”

Butterfield had previously only scored seven goals across eight years at Palace.

His first against Wolves saw him head in from point-blank range while the second was a sliding finish with his right foot and the third a left-footed half-volley.

“Honestly, every game after that, all the fringe players were going ‘gaffer, did Sharon have a dream last night?,” added Ambrose. “The guy was insane. He was old school.”