Shaun Wright-Phillips' last-gasp leveller ended Wolves brave resistance in a thrill-a-minute encounter at Eastlands which leaves Manchester City looking nervously over their shoulder at the foot of the Barclaycard Premiership table.

Quite how valuable Wright-Phillips' effort will be when the final points are totted up on May 15 remains to be seen but while City are now just two points above the drop zone, the little winger's 20-yard strike has almost certainly ripped the heart out of Wolves survival campaign.

The Black Country boys had showed admirable spirit to recover not just from the loss of an early two-goal lead but also from Colin Cameron's second-half penalty miss.

So, when Henri Camara capped an outstanding performance by tapping home the rebound after David James had failed to hold a low free-kick from City old-boy Mark Kennedy, the visitors must have thought they had collected three precious points.

But the cruellest blow was reserved for the final seconds of injury time when the visitors failed to clear the last in a succession of dangerous set-pieces from Michael Tarnat - and Wright-Phillips strode up to drill a first-time shot into the corner.

It was bad luck in the extreme for Wolves' boss David Jones, who saw his team turn in one of their best performances of the season, yet now find themselves six points adrift of safety with just six games remaining.

Yet maybe the final twist should have been expected in an extraordinary contest scarred by shambolic defending and where the only major surprise was that there were only six goals.

Camara nodded a good chance over and Paul Jones produced an excellent one-handed save to deny Robbie Fowler before Kennedy broke the deadlock when he strode onto Tarnat's poor clearance and belted the ball past a startled James and into the corner of City's net.

The clinical execution was admirable but given no home defender had even attempted to close down the space in front of the Irish international, Kennedy had been given the clearest of targets to aim at.

If that was bad, the defending for the second goal was laughable as Tarnat nipped in to toe the ball away from Carl Cort, only to give Camara the chance to intervene.

The Wolves man forced a point-blank save from James but the rebound presented Cort with a far easier chance than Lee Naylor's far post cross had originally given him.

For the only side in top four divisions without an away win all season, it was nosebleed time but before they had a chance to call a doctor, Nicolas Anelka had delivered his own cure with his 21st goal of the season.

The French striker continues to court controversy and his omission from last week's side to face Aston Villa raised fresh doubt over the likelihood of him still being a City player next August.

For all the problems that come as part of the package though, Anelka remains the best finisher on the Blues' playing roster and when Tarnat latched onto Steve McManaman's square-ball and sent a left-footed cross looping into the Wolves area, the home fans would have wanted no-one else leaping to reach it.

The goal exposed a fatal weakness in a visitors defence which included Nigerian World Cup star Isaac Okoronkwo for the first time in top-flight combat.

Though Okoronkwo looked assured dealing with anything along the floor, like the rest of the Wolves rearguard, he was at a loss to know what to do with crosses, particularly those which sailed into the area off Tarnat's boot.

It was the German who delivered the free-kick from which Antoine Sibierski nodded City level six minutes before the break.

Before that, Camara had struck a post after he had nipped round Richard Dunne and touched his shot past James.

Camara ripped the City defence apart everytime he ran at them, while James was equally adept at keeping Wolves out.

The England goalkeeper produced a great save to deny Cort's header that was bound for the top corner, but the best was still to come as he plunged low to his right to keep out Cameron's penalty after Dunne had sent Camara flying.

It was a golden opportunity spurned, although Anelka was equally guilty shortly afterwards when he failed to slam home Sibierski's cut-back from barely eight yards.

To their credit, Wolves failed to let their heads drop and when James did not catch clear sight of Kennedy's low, curling free-kick, Camara was quickest to react.

The drama still was not over but while the home fans gasped at relief at Wright-Phillips' late leveller, there must be some concern now at City's ability to stay up.

Teams

Man City: James, Jihai, Dunne, Distin, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, Bosvelt (Barton 72), Sibierski, McManaman, Anelka, Fowler (Wanchope 72).

Subs Not Used: Arason, Macken, Sinclair.

Goals: Anelka 25, Sibierski 39, Wright-Phillips 90.

Wolverhampton: Jones, Clyde (Irwin 45), Okoronkwo, Butler, Naylor, Newton (Gudjonsson 66), Cameron, Ince, Kennedy, Cort, Camara (Miller 90).

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Ganea.

Booked: Okoronkwo.

Goals: Kennedy 13, Cort 23, Camara 78.

Att: 47,248

Ref: J Winter (Cleveland).