Wolves 1 (Hwang 42) Burnley 0
Hee Chan Hwang’s ninth goal of the season fired Wolves to a scrappy, but important victory over Burnley, as the Old Gold bounced back under the Molineux lights.
In a game lacking in big chances, but no shortage of effort, Wolves punished Burnley for a fifth half error, as Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha combined to set up Hwang, who did the rest, knocking home the only goal of the night.
That moment of quality wasn’t repeated after the break, but didn’t have to be, as Wolves saw out the win by keeping their first clean sheet since August, with Dan Bentley producing a fine double save before Hwang scored the decisive goal before the break.
It’s fair to say it took a while to get going at a chilly Molineux and both of Wolves’ openings in the first half fell to the same man – the back in favour Sarabia. First, after the hosts won the knock down in the midfield, the Spaniard’s deflected strike was tipped over by James Trafford. Then, after Nelson Semedo had shown Charlie Taylor a clean pair of heels and clipped in a cross for Sarabia, he turned over with the outside of his left foot.
Bentley was back in goal, with Jose Sa out injured, and he had to get down low to save from Hjalmar Ekdal. The goalkeeper was then called into emergency action as Joao Gomes was robbed of possession and Jay Rodriguez had a clear sight of goal, but Bentley made himself big, then did even better to get back to his feet and tip Josh Brownhill’s low, deflected rebound around the post.
That save looked even more important, as with half-time approaching, Berge’s heavy touch near his own box engaged Sarabia, who found Cunha, and the Brazilian weighted his own pass for Hwang perfectly, with the Old Gold’s top scorer showing the composure to roll home the opening goal.
Half-time | Wolves 1-0 Burnley
After the break, Mario Lemina headed a deep Sarabia free-kick over at the back post, before Burnley’s Jacob Bruun Larsen curled a free-kick harmlessly over Bentley’s crossbar. Then, from another Sarabia delivery, following a short corner, Craig Dawson side footed a fine ball across the face of goal, but Lemina couldn’t convert at the back post.
Sarabia was involved in everything Wolves did and his curling free-kick was pushed around the post at full stretch by Trafford. Clearcut chances were hard to come by, and while Wolves looked the comfortable side, they were restricted to shots from distance, with Cunha shooting at Trafford from 35 yards.
It was a similar case for Burnley, who had Vitinho fire over from distance, before Wolves brought on the likes of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Boubacar Traore to help see the game out. It didn’t stop the closing stages feeling nervy however, but when Rodriguez fouled Gomes in the penalty area with two minutes over the additional three minutes on the clock, Wolves knew the game was done.
Full-time | Wolves 1-0 Burnley
Wolves | Bentley, Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, Toti, H Bueno (Doherty 90), Lemina, Gomes, Sarabia (Bellegarde 79), Hwang, Cunha (Traore 87).
Unused subs | King, S Bueno, Doyle, Chirewa, Silva, Kalajdzic.
Burnley | Trafford, Vitinho (Odobert 90), O’Shea, Ekdal (Redmond 90), Taylor, Larsen (Tresor 71), Berge, Brownhill, Koleosho (Gudmundsson 36), Rodriquez, Amdouni.
Unused subs | Muric, Delcroix, Al-Dakhil, Zaroury, Ramsey.
