Wolves edge snoozefest

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Burnley 0

When last penning a few thoughts, I had extoled Wolves’ propensity for losing against sides at the foot of the table. And foot of the table (almost) is the position which tonight’s visitors Burnley currently find themselves. That said they arrived at the Molineux on the back of a confidence boosting 5-0 win against fellow strugglers Sheffield United. In contrast, since their rousing win against Tottenham three weeks ago, Wolves have suffered two away defeats. The first, against Fulham, during which the vagaries of VAR had once more kicked where it hurts and the second against Arsenal who for the most part had outplayed us. All of which meant that the spectre of being dragged back into the mire was very much back on the agenda. A nervy evening was in store.

But as the game settled into a rather turgid pattern nervy was probably overstating matters. Apprehensive may have been a better emotion in a game that certainly lacked for excitement. One might even argue that during the opening half hour Burnley were the more threatening side and in the 37th minute reserve keeper Daniel Bentley was called upon to deny first Jay Rodriguez from close range and then seconds later Josh Brownhill. It was the wake-up call that Wolves required and five minutes later a poor clearance by Sander Berge was collected by Pablo Sarabia on the edge of the Burnley box. Squaring the ball to Mattheus Cunha he in turn fed Hwang Hee Chan who settled himself before slotting the ball under James Trafford to break the deadlock.

For much of the first half Wolves had been pedestrian, too often getting to an advanced position before turning back and passing the ball around the back three. This pattern continued into the second half but such was the paucity of Burnley’s attacking threat that Bentley was rarely called into action. As the half progressed we had the usual retinue of substitutions but they did little to change the complexion of the game in which the only clear cut chance came on the hour when Craig Dawson fired across a gaping Burnley goalmouth.

When referee Gilbert indicated that there would only three minutes of added time the home support could finally start to relax. Exciting the game was not, but the job had been done the win taking Wolves to 18 points and a more than creditable twelfth league spot.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Bentley 7, Semedo 7, Dawson 7, Kilman 7, Bueno 7 Sub Doherty, Gomes 6, Lemina 6, Sarabia 7 Sub Bellegarde, Cunha 6 Sub Traore, Hee-chan 7

Burnley: Trafford 6, da Silva 6 Sub Odobert, O’Shea 6, Ekdal 6 Sub Redmond, Taylor 6, Bruun Larsen 5 Sub Tresor, Berge 5, Brownhill 6, Koleosho 5 Sub Gudmundsson, Rodrigeuz 6, Amdouni 6

Attendance: 30,139

Referee: Jarred Gilbert 8

©Mark Brennand