Former Blues loanee Richard Stearman headed a first-half own goal but Benik Afobe equalised five minutes after the break as Town and Wolves drew 1-1 in the clash of the play-off chasers at Molineux.
Jay Tabb replaced Stephen Hunt at left midfield in a Town side otherwise unchanged from the team which beat Cardiff 3-1 on Tuesday.
Wolves, where Mick McCarthy spent six years as manager, Terry Connor was his assistant and briefly boss, and Hunt and Christophe Berra were players, included former Town loanee Stearman from the start at centre of the defence.
Town started the stronger, winning an early corner, then in the third minute Freddie Sears found strike partner Daryl Murphy inside the area to the right but the Blues’ 24-goal Championship top scorer shot across the face of goal and wide.
The home side began to get on top of a game played in sunny but breezy conditions and in the seventh minute Nouha Dicko did well to cut the ball back from the byline on the left having beaten Blues skipper Luke Chambers, but Berra diverted it back to keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who cleared.
Dicko was proving to be Wolves’ main threat in the opening minutes and on 10 the pacy frontman broke past Tommy Smith on the right but Berra was again there to challenge as he broke into the area.
Berra halted the Malian international’s progress again on the quarter hour after he had skipped away from Smith on halfway and was breaking towards goal.
Moments later, as the home side kept up the pressure, Wolves winger Rajiv van La Parra crossed from the right but was unable to find a team-mate.
Despite Wolves having looked by far the more dangerous side, the Blues went in front in the 21st minute. Bishop whipped over a corner from the right, Smith rose with Stearman, who inadvertently sent a the ball looping over keeper Carl Ikeme and into the corner of the net.
Smith claimed his fifth goal of the season but it seems likely to go down as an own goal by the former Town loanee, who failed to find the net for the Blues during his 15-game loan spell in the 2012/13 campaign.
The home side looked to hit back immediately, van La Parra shooting over and then Dicko failed to find the target with a header. However, the Town goal seemed to knock them out of their stride and the Molineux crowd quickly began to become frustrated.
On 33 Dicko cut into the area from the left but again found Berra in his way, the Scotland international this time blocking the one-time Wigan man’s shot.
Three minutes later, Jonny Parr was shown the game’s first yellow card for bringing down Benik Afobe as Wolves broke.
Wolves came within inches of getting back on terms in the 39th minute when Smith’s header from deep in the Town area fell to Dave Edwards, whose volley beat Bialkowski but struck the outside of his right post. Referee Stuart Attwell awarded a corner much to the surprise of the Blues players.
Two minutes later, Tabb was booked for a foul on Dicko, who required treatment on the pitch before continuing. The home crowd felt the challenge might have been worth more than just a yellow and the Blues midfielder was booed each time he touched the ball prior to referee Attwell’s whistle ending the half, signalling more boos.
While the Blues had found the pace of Dicko in particular hard to handle and Wolves had presented the greater threat for the most part, the home side had been prevented from creating many significant chances - with Berra usually the man in the way - prior to Town going in front.
The somewhat fortunate goal rather quietened Wolves down until Edwards’s late volley off the post.
A minute after the restart Dicko should have put his side back on terms, but headed Bakary Sako’s freekick from deep on the left into the side-netting at the far post. On 49 Dicko failed to get Dominic Iorfa’s low cross from under his feet and Bishop cleared.
The home side had begun the second half very much on top and a minute later they levelled. Van La Parra cut into the area on the left having been found by Kevin McDonald and hit a shot which deflected off Smith and across the area to the far post from where Afobe got ahead of Tyrone Mings to stab home.
It was the former Arsenal striker's 31st goal of the season and his 12th since joining Wolves in January.
In the 53rd minute Sears unleashed a 30-yard effort but Ikeme was able to comfortably block and then claim.
Wolves continued to have most of the ball and take the game to Town but without being able to create any more major chances. At the other end, the Blues had been unable to make much of an impact, all too often long balls forward for the front two were cut out.
Wolves switched James Henry for van La Parra on 64, then two minutes later Parr made way for Paul Anderson for the Blues.
Berra superbly slid in and took the ball away from Afobe as he broke into the area on 71, then within a minute stopped Dicko in his tracks as he reached the byline on the right.
Sears scuffed a rare Town effort wide in the 73rd minute, then a minute later ex-Wolves man Hunt replaced Bishop in the Blues midfield, Tabb moving to the centre.
The Irishman, who was applauded by his old fans as he made his way onto the field, immediately shot high and wide from distance.
Berra yet again thwarted Dicko in the 76th minute, the Blues centre-half sliding in to block after Afobe had fed his team-mate inside the area.
As the game moved towards its final 10 minutes Town started to have more of the ball in the Wolves half. On 80 Mings took a quick throw on the left but Hunt’s low cross was cut out ahead of Tabb.
But the home side were still a threat, Smith doing well to hold off Afobe to allow a wind-assisted punt down the middle to reach Bialkowski. Chris Wood replaced Sears for the final scheduled seven minutes.
Sako smashed a freekick into the Town wall on 85, from which the Blues broke and Wood curled a low shot not too far wide from the edge of the box. On 88 Dicko was booked for a foul on Chambers.
Wolves had one more chance to win it two minutes into injury time but Dicko was unable to get anything on Edwards’s scuffed shot from the right of the area.
Town boss Mick McCarthy will be happy enough with another battling away point with the home side having largely been on the front foot.
Typically staunch defending from man of the match Berra in particular meant that despite having most of the ball Wolves created only a limited number of chances. At the other end, the Blues only rarely threatened home keeper Ikeme.
Town are certain to end the day in sixth regardless of results elsewhere and have moved up to 75 points, equal with fifth-placed Derby, who are away at Huddersfield.
Wolves are now seventh, three points behind the Blues and a point in front of Brentford in eighth.
Wolves: Ikeme, Iorfa, Batth (c), Stearman, Golbourne, van La Parra (Henry 64), McDonald, Edwards, Sako, Afobe, Dicko. Unused: McCarey, Doherty, Doyle, Price, Ebanks-Landell, Jacobs.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Skuse, Bishop (S Hunt 74), Parr (Anderson 66), Tabb, Murphy, Sears (Wood 83). Unused: Gerken, Fryers, Chaplow, Williams. Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire). Attendance: 23,409.