Wolves 0
Chelsea 1 (Clifford 88)
A late goal from Chelsea's Conor Clifford gave the London side an undeserved victory over Wolves after an entertaining contest at the Bucks Head.
But the consolation for watching manager Mick McCarthy was that injury victims Richard Stearman and Chris Iwelumo successfully completed 45 minutes in their comeback game.
There was a larger than usual crowd for a reserve match inside the Bucks Head and in the first attack of the game they watched a good piece of work on the right from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Mark Little who delivered a low cross that was cleared by Danny Mills.
Iwelumo headed wide following another Little cross before the Wolves goal had an escape on the 15 minutes mark when Milan Lalkovic powered into the area and unleashed a shot that smacked against the crossbar and bounced to safety.
Iwelumo was robbed of a goal attempt by Ken Strickland who cut out Scott Malone's diagonal pass, and then Sam Vokes bustled his way between two defenders but the ball bobbled away from him and out behind as he was about to shoot.
It took an exceptional clearance from Mills to cut out a driven cross from Little with Iwelumo waiting to pounce at the far post and then Malone ended a fine run with a shot that drew a diving save from Rhys Taylor.
Just on half-time Mendez-Laing beat Josh McEachran and Ben Gordon before firing in a cross that was cleared by Strickland with the predatory Iwelumo once again frustrated as he lay in wait.
Half-Time: Wolves 0 Chelsea 0
Both Stearman and Iwelumo were replaced at the start of the new half by Jack Metcalf and Zele Ismail respectively.
Ikeme made a fine save to keep out a driven effort from McEachran after Gokhan Tore had squared the ball to him before Wolves went close to breaking the deadlock on the hour mark as Mills cleared off the line from Malone's inswinging corner as Vokes charged in.
Midway through the half Danny Philliskirk fired straight at Ikeme from the edge of the box whilst at the other end Taylor had to made a scrambled diving save from Metcalf's centre after he had been unsighted by Vokes.
Wolves forced the visitors back in the closing stages and after Taylor had 'lost' a Malone corner, he recovered to clutch hold of a header from Ashley Hemmings.
Taylor then dived full length to take a free-kick from Malone after Hemmings had been fouled before, against the run of play, Chelsea grabbed the winner in the 88th minute as Clifford hit a tremendous effort from 25-yards that flew into the net.
It was rough justice on the Molineux youngsters.
Wolves: Ikeme, Little, Malone (capt), Stearman (Metcalf 45), Hill, Davis, Mendez-Laing, Rooney, Vokes, Iwelumo (Ismail 45), Hemmings.
Unused subs: Szabo, East, Harris.
Chelsea: Taylor, Ferreira (capt), Strickland, Mills, Gordon, Sala, Clifford, McEachran (Djalo 74), Lalkovic, Philliskirk (Ahamed 82), Tore (Clifford 74).
Unused subs: Walker, Mitrovic.
Referee: A.J. Madley.
Attendance: 905.
Pictured: Paulo Ferreira keeps a close eye on Chris Iwelumo.
