Bradford City 0, Wolves 3: Benito Carbone puts bums on seats wherever City go. He is the flashest geezer on the block and guaranteed to stand out in the First Division crowd.

But as City's season heads towards a crossroads, the Italian showman is becoming a luxury item.

Like a top-of-the-range CD player in an R-reg Mondeo, he is brilliant to have and great to show off to your mates. But in the cold light of day, wouldn't it be wiser to spend the money elsewhere?

Accuse me of treason if you must but is the Nationwide League's most expensive player really the right man for the job this year?

At the moment City's squad, like an ageing car, is in need of some maintenance. Most of the time it's a good little runner but the body needs freshening up with newer and quicker parts added if only the cash was available.

Did any fans seriously expect to see Carbone still here after City slipped through the Premiership trapdoor?

But no offers came in, the maverick crowd-pleaser promised to honour his contract and has been good to his word denying the stories of an imminent return to Torino.

He has certainly done his bit for the cause so far with four goals, some sublime circus tricks, and the looming presence to attract a couple of defenders in his direction most of the time.

Yet can a club in City's position - which is now dangerously approaching mid-table - really afford to put a quarter of their wagebill in just the one pocket?

Surely if a concrete offer for his services does one day materialise, the powers-that-be may be reluctant to knock it back.

City have now lost four of the last five games and three times at home. The final margin on Saturday may have been harsh but ten points now separate them from Wolves pulling away at the top.

For regular Claret and Amber watchers, the 3-0 loss followed a similar pattern of recent games.

With just over an hour gone there was little to choose between the sides. An equaliser looked more likely than a Wolves second goal.

But it's about that point when the legs start to go. City have a side packed with big-match experience but they are also getting on a bit.

The subs are much the same so you're replacing like with like. There is no option of a pace injection and the opposition know it.

Stockport knew it, Grimsby knew it, Watford knew it and you can be damn sure Wolves knew it. Here's the gameplan - suck City in, don't give them space to play and then push it past them and run, run, run.

The killer goal may have been freaky but it arrived in that dangerous period when the home side start to run out of steam. Inevitably a third followed almost immediately afterwards and City were on the wrong end of an unjust scoreline.

The facts speak for themselves - eight of the 18 league goals they have conceded have been scored in the final 15 minutes.

Money could be made available to spend after Christmas providing City are there or thereabouts in the promotion pack. The fear is that they miss that particular financial boat.

Plenty of envious eyes were cast at Wolves, a young, hungry side with a bulging wallet, flying high at the top. They also have that bit of speed up front and on the wing.

As with all top teams, Wolves also get the breaks and seize any gifts like the loose pass from Wayne Jacobs which was intercepted to set up the breakthrough goal on half-time for Adam Proudlock.

That followed the deftest of saves by Michael Oakes at the other end to thwart Ashley Ward a couple of minutes before. As Jim Jefferies later lamented, it showed the fine line between success and failure.

City gave it a real go in the second half and forced a pile of corners although Oakes was only seriously tested once by a Carbone chip in the opening minute.

Inevitably after all their pressure, the next goal came at the home end with a wicked deflection from Colin Cameron's hit and hope 30-yard volley.

Stuart McCall sighed: "He hit it well but it was going straight down Gary Walsh's throat. Then it deflected off the back of Proudlock's leg and went completely in the other corner.

"When you're on top it seems to go for you like that. But for us as soon as it went in, it was like putting a pin in a balloon."

Proudlock tapped in his hat-trick from Wolves' next attack as City leaked their 13th goal in four outings. It was also their first home blank since Liverpool's 2-0 win on May 1.

Wolves boss Dave Jones said: "Bradford have scored a lot of goals at home so we knew it would be a really tough battle. It was very tight in the first half but we got the break and then weathered it before taking control after the second goal."

Carbone and Gareth Whalley both felt the force of abrasive Aussie Kevin Muscat with the Italian claiming he had been elbowed in the throat.

No action was taken against the full back and Jones said: "I didn't think there was a bad tackle in the game. Wherever he was on the pitch he went for the ball.

"I didn't see anything untoward. Kevin was just determined to win the ball and it was probably six of one and half a dozen of the other."