Warnock said
"We felt a bit sorry for ourselves with the goal. We were behind because of a goalkeeping error.
"It took us 10, 15 minutes after that where we could've lost the game. I just said to them 'stop feeling sorry for yourselves, they are there to be beaten and if we play in the second-half, we can win the game'. That was the message."
At half time Warnock took off Lex Immers and Kieran Richardson, both of whom had disappointed in the opening 45 minutes. On came Craig Noone and Kenneth Zohore and both made an impact.
“I made two substitutions and asked the two lads to come on and do a certain job and they both were excellent,”
He added: "I asked Anthony Pilkington if he could score a goal for us and he did! We deserved the win."
Pilkington's winning goal followed a Matt Connolly header that brought City level.
"Zohore was surprised by his performance, not me! It was do or die for him. I told him at the end 'that's what I want to see from you".
Meanwhile, Wolves boss Paul Lambert has only won one of his five games in charge since arriving in the Midlands last month.
Connolly's equalising header came from a Peter Whittingham corner that Lambert reckons should not have been awarded.
He said: "I don't think we did enough in the second-half, whether or not we deserved to lose it, I'm not so sure.
"I've looked at the tape and it wasn't a corner. We had been coping really well with the corners and long throw-ins."
Wolves are 20th in the table, and just two points from safety, but Lambert insists his young team have enough to stay clear of trouble.
He said: "It's been an occurrence since August, being near the bottom.
"We've absolutely got enough to stay up. We're a really good attacking side that needs a bit of experience.
"We're a young team who will make mistakes, but we've certainly got a threat."