Herd, 22, was handed just his second Premier League start with regular full-back Luke Young poised to be sold to QPR.

And the Perth-born defender took his opportunity well and McLeish has now challenged him to make the position his on a permanent basis.

"Chris had a really good game. He got up the line, had headers at set-pieces and he can look in the mirror and be proud of his performance,” McLeish said.

"He has given me a problem. That is all I can ask. We are a bit short on experienced players with Luke Young leaving.

"That is the only little niggle for me but again it's another great performance from a kid from the academy."

McLeish added he felt Herd was rightfully given the man-of-the-match award after an enterprising display, where he almost scored the winner with a header which made Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey work.

“I thought it was deserved. I thought he was terrific. Absolutely brilliant,” McLeish said.

“He's got some spring, fantastic in the air, he may have had a goal at one of the set pieces. He matched (Matt) Jarvis brilliantly. Jarvis is a cracking player, very dangerous. Herdy can say to himself 'what a job I've done today'.”

McLeish added: “Put it this way, Herdy didn't do himself any harm at all. He's a player who went out on loan last year, played a couple of games for the first-team and showed today his desire.

“Can he take that up another step? Can he give us the full blooded quality as well?

“There's no doubting about his athleticism. Some of his deliveries from wide areas were tremendous. Everything today for Herdy went right. It's about putting a game together consistently for a number of games. That'll be the test for him.”