Walsall 0
Wolves 1 (Surman 16)
After a comfortable first-half during which they took the lead through Andy Surman, Wolves had to fight hard to preserve their advantage against a plucky Walsall side.
Wolves supporters made up more than half of the crowd at The Banks's Stadium and they looked on as Richard Taundry's foul on George Friend led to an early chance for Andy Keogh. Greg Halford rolled the free-kick to fellow new signing Surman and his pass found Keogh who was wide with an angled shot.
Walsall's Josh O'Keefe had two shots in rapid succession come back off Jody Craddock with Taundry hitting the second rebound wide.
In the tenth minute Keogh found Friend in the Saddlers' box and his hooked cross into the goalmouth was headed against the far post by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
Bobo Balde came to the rescue with a last ditch challenge on Taundry who would have been clean through before Wolves moved into a 16th minute lead.
Keogh sprinted towards the home area and found Ebanks-Blake who turned and centered. The ball was headed out by a defender but it landed at the feet of Surman who drilled a 20-yard shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Some neat interplay between Matt Hill, Jody Craddock and Karl Henry almost led to a second. The ball was played forward to Keogh whose clever flick released Friend who rode a strong challenge before hitting a shot that was deflected narrowly over the bar.
Craddock then bravely got a head to Rhys Weston's ferocious drive with the ball going behind for an unproductive Saddlers corner.
The final ten minutes of the half produced little by way of chances but Wolves remained in the driving seat.
Half-Time: Walsall 0 Wolves 1
Balde headed wide from Halford's corner and substitute keeper Clayton Ince just beat Keogh to Ebanks-Blake's through ball as Wanderers made a bright start to the new half.
But Walsall almost drew level when Sam Parkin hit the post from close range after Weston had planted a deep free-kick into the Wolves box.
That was the signal for a period of home pressure that resulted in four consecutive corners before the danger was eventually cleared by the visiting defence.
Keogh was well wide with a 25-yard drive and then Ince was quickly out to block at the striker's feet when he suddenly found himself in the clear.
Will Grigg, who had only been on the field for five minutes, was denied by Wayne Hennessey who blocked at point blank range when the Walsall man seemed certain to score.
Friend headed wide from Keogh's cross but, in the final minute, only a diving save from Hennessey preserved Wolves' advantage when Troy Deeney's header from Sam Adkins centre looked destined for the net.
Walsall: Gilmartin (Ince 45), Weston (Westlake 67), Sansara (Vincent 27), Hughes (capt), Smith (Roberts 71), Mattis (Davies 67), Parkin (Grigg 77), Nicholls (Deeney 45), Taundry (Bradley 45), O'Keefe (Adkins 45), Till (Geddes 84).
Wolves: Hennessey, Stearman, Hill, Surman (Mendez-Laing 77), Balde, Craddock, Halford, Henry (capt), Ebanks-Blake (Spray 83), Keogh, Friend (Ismail 88).
Unused subs: E. Bennett, Batth, Davis, Reckord, McCone, Metcalf, Rooney, Price, Ikeme.
Referee: K. Friend.
Attendance: 5,867 (3,390 away supporters).
