Hull City 2 (Diomande 5, Ikeme og 90+3)
Wolves 1 (Edwards 19)
A goal in the dying seconds of stoppage time condemned Wolves to a thoroughly undeserved defeat against high flying Hull City at the KC Stadium.
There were four changes to the Wolves side – one of them enforced. Skipper Danny Batth was ruled out through illness and Joe Mason, Adam Le Fondre and Conor Coady all dropped down to the bench.
Sylvain Deslandes came in for his League debut and Jeremy Helan, Bjorn Sigurdarson and Dave Edwards all returned to the starting line-up. Edwards was named as captain in Batth’s absence.
Dominic Iorfa partnered Kortney Hause in central defence as Wolves kicked-off defending the end of the ground that housed a hardy bunch of their followers.
It took Hull just five minutes to make the breakthrough. Iorfa miscued his clearance after the ball had been nodded forward and when Carl Ikeme failed to gather cleanly Adama Diomande had the easiest of tasks in converting into the empty net.
Helan won Wolves’ first corner of the game and Edwards was just too high with a glancing header from James Henry’s flag-kick.
Sam Clucas rifled a 20-yard drive narrowly wide of Ikeme’s left-hand post, before Jack Price headed over following a Helan centre at the other end.
Helan’s next ball into the box, after 19 minutes, saw Wanderers pulling level. Sigurdarson laid a lovely ball out wide to Helan whose pinpoint centre was headed home from close range by Edwards.
On the half-hour Abel Hernandez was too high with a shot from distance and then the visiting defence had to deal with two Clucas corners in quick succession.
Five minutes before the break there were loud penalty appeals from the home supporters after Deslandes tackled Ahmed Elmohamady who was bearing down on goal, but the referee immediately awarded a corner.
Clucas’s kick was cleared and Helan broke away on the left. His low cross went through to the far side where Henry won possession and cut inside before lifting the ball over the bar from the edge of the box.
Half-Time: Hull 1 Wolves 1
The new half opened with three Henry corners the last of which was cleanly taken by home keeper Alan McGregor in the heart of a congested six-yard box.
A 56th minute Hull corner, again taken by Clucas, saw Hull going close to regaining the lead as Diomande hooked the ball narrowly over the bar.
Diomande and Sigurdarson were both too high with long range shots for their respective sides as play continued to flow from end to end.
Steve Bruce used all three of his substitutes in a five minute spell with Moses Odubajo, Diomande and Clucas being replaced by Robert Snodgrass, Sone Aluko and Chuba Akpom respectively.
Ikeme turned aside a low effort from Hernandez before Wolves’ first change saw Coady replacing Deslandes in the 76th minute.
McGregor athletically saved a rising drive from Sigurdarson after a build-up involving Matt Doherty and Henry and, as Hull went forward, Hernandez fired over and Ikeme did well to hold on to a shot from Aluko that skidded across the greasy surface.
Bight Enobakhare went on in place of George Saville in the 89th minute before the game drifted into three minutes of added time.
That time was nearly up when Doherty was penalised for a shove some 25-yards out. And it was Snodgrass that delivered the cruelest of blows to Kenny Jackett’s men with a free-kick that went over the wall and into the net via the underside of the bar and then the back of the unfortunate Ikeme.
Tigers: McGregor, Odubajo (Snodgrass 68), Bruce, Davies, Meyler (capt), Hernandez, Clucas (Akpom 73), Livermore, Diomande (Aluko 73), Robertson, Elmohamady.
Unused subs: Jakupovic, Huddlestone, Maguire, Maloney.
Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Iorfa, Price, Hause, Deslandes (Coady 76), Henry, Edwards, Sigurdarson, Saville (Enobakhare 89), Helan.
Unused subs: Martinez, Mason, Le Fondre, Hunte, Hayden.
Referee: J. Adcock.
Attendance: 15,504 (365 away supporters)
