Alex Rae and Matt Murray were the Wolves heroes as Dave Jones' men beat Reading 1-0 to set up a winner-takes-all Millennium Stadium showdown with Sheffield United or Nottingham Forest a week on Monday.

Veteran midfielder Rae, 33, fired home the winner eight minutes from time in this First Division play-off semi-final, second-leg tie at the Madejski Stadium, securing a 3-1 aggregate triumph.

So former Southampton boss Jones' dream of returning to the top flight is still alive as the men from Molineux hope they finally draw the lucky ticket in the play-off lottery this year after three previous failures.

It was far from one-sided tonight, with Wolves goalkeeper Murray twice keeping the scoreline blank with stunning reaction saves.

His evening almost started on the worst possible note as, with just 20 seconds gone, he spilt Glen Little's tame volley and Jamie Cureton almost pounced to tap home from six yards.

But the England Under-21 international recovered his composure and proved his massive potential with vital saves from Darius Henderson.

The first came five minutes before half-time, diving low to his right to parry the striker's point-blank header.

And the second, after 61 minutes, saw him fling out his left glove and block Henderson's shot.

While Wolves will find out their opposition in Cardiff on Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow, for Reading the fairytale is on hold for at least another year.

Manager Alan Pardew has revived the Royals, steering them to second in Division Two last season and fourth in the Football League's top flight this term.

But he must wait to take them into the elite.

Their bid to dish out Wolves' fourth failure in the play-offs was jolted by 17-goal top-scorer Nick Forster's absence with an ankle injury - Cureton started in his place.

The game kicked off amid a deafening atmosphere and Wolves almost threw away their goal advantage within 20 seconds when Murray mishandled.

It was exciting stuff in the opening exchanges, with plenty of attacking energy on show and both sides finding acres of space to utilise for forward raids.

Cureton smacked a volley high and wide as the tempo remained high.

Reading's Steve Brown was the first name in the book for an ugly tackle on Nathan Blake.

From the resulting free-kick, Paul Ince stretched and headed over the top.

Denis Irwin's hoisted through-ball was superbly brought down by Colin Cameron but his cross-shot fell to Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.

For the home side, Cureton's fine run-and-shot ended with the ball in Murray's midriff.

And at the other end, Brown slid in and intercepted Blake's driven cross, slicing the ball a yard over his own crossbar.

Reading went desperately close to levelling the tie five minutes before the break, with only a superb save from Murray denying them.

Brown flicked on Nick Shorey's right-wing corner and Henderson connected with a downward header - which Murray brilliantly parried as Cureton tried to polish off the scraps again.

Cameron again burst forward for the visitors on the stroke of half-time and Williams made an excellent sliding block to protect his goal.

Murray saved the day again just after the hour. Andy Hughes slipped a fine pass through to Henderson - and the forward's effort was pushed away again by Murray, before Joleon Lescott cleared.

Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell dragged a 20-yard attempt past the post after 66 minutes.

And Little scooped a shot just over the bar from 10 yards after a fine one-two with Cureton as the Royals struggled to find the breakthrough.

Then substitute Rae put Jones' men in the final with a goal which sparked scenes of celebration among the 4,000-strong travelling army.

The 33-year-old former Sunderland midfielder cut in from the right edge of the Royals area and drove a 15-yard angled drive beyond Hahnemann and into the bottom left corner of the net.

Teams:

Reading Hahnemann, Murty, Shorey, Brown, Williams, Little (Chadwick 85), Harper, Sidwell (Watson 70), Hughes, Henderson (Rougier 64), Cureton.

Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Mackie.

Booked: Brown, Sidwell.

Wolverhampton Murray, Irwin, Naylor, Lescott, Butler, Newton (Cooper 90), Cameron, Ince, Kennedy, Blake (Sturridge 85), Miller (Rae 75).

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Pollet.

Booked: Newton.

Goals: Rae 81.

Att: 24,060

Ref: H Webb (S Yorkshire).