Hull City remain six points clear of Watford in the race for the Premier League, despite a 1-0 defeat at Wolves.
Kevin Doyle's second-half strike was enough to give struggling Wolves a relegation lifeline in a game of few chances at Molineux.
Substitute Jay Simpson came closest for City when his strike hit a post.
But Watford's 1-0 defeat at Millwall meant the Tigers retained their advantage in the battle for automatic promotion.
City will now have a chance to go nine points clear in second place when they play Bristol City at the KC Stadium on Friday.
The Tigers started the stronger, but despite dominating long passages of play in the first-half, they were unable to carve out clear-cut chances.
Ahmed Fathi - making his full debut - was first to try his luck from distance after 25 minutes with a fizzing shot which flew wide.
The Tigers were dealt a blow just minutes later when skipper Robert Koren was forced off due to injury.
The most obvious danger for Wolves was proving to be their own back-line as goalkeeper Dorus de Vries and his defenders attempted to pass their way out of trouble at every opportunity.
Stephen Quinn thought he had opened the scoring in the 36th minute only to see his deflected strike drift the wrong side of a post.
And 60 seconds later Wolves enjoyed their first attempt at goal as Tongo Doumbia drilled off target.
Wanderers broke the deadlock out of nowhere in the 55th minute.
Fathi was robbed of the ball by Doumbia 25 yards from goal. He found Bjorn Sigurdarson who fed Doyle and the Irishman finished low past Stockdale.
It was hard on Fathi who had been City's outstanding player of the first half.
Simpson, on for the injured Koren, fluffed a free shot from 12 yards at the other end as Hull threatened an immediate equaliser.
Doumbia was wayward with a good chance to double the hosts' advantage after 68 minutes.
In a breathless passage of play, Simpson came within inches of an equaliser when he smacked a shot against a post before Wolves forward Sigurdarson fired into the side-netting as the game picked up a pace.
Bruce sent on Matty Fryatt for Abdoulaye Faye, but despite desperate pressure in the closing stages the Tigers were unable to force an equaliser.• Robert Koren has a calf strain and could be a doubt for Friday.
