The nervy success against Wolves may only have been achieved in the dying seconds thanks to a towering Sami Hyypia header, but Houllier knows that the result was crucial in his bid to return the Reds to the elite Champions League football.
Houllier said: "I am quite happy to win 1-0 in the last minute of the last nine remaining games. It has been a good week for us and hopefully it will get better.
"We are back in fourth place where we want to be after six points. We had a very good performance and result against Portsmouth and a tremendous win over Wolves.
"Our destiny is in our feet and we know where we want to be next season. We are fully determined and focused to be there. I am delighted to be in fourth place and I told you it would be different when we got our players back.
"The Wolves game was our third match in six days and I think that's why we were tired and lacked freshness. What I liked was the character and the mental strength of the side.
"The last time we scored from a set piece late on in the game we finished the season extremely high but I won't tell you the game!
"At times this season the criticism has been extremely heavy and unfair. Sometimes we have played well this season and haven't had the results to show for it and there's been games where we have been without seven or eight first choice players."