Hwang Hee-chan scores the only goal as Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Burnley 1-0 at Molineux.
Hwang Hee-chan scored the only goal of the game as Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Burnley 1-0 at Molineux tonight.
A late first-half strike, which came slightly against the run of play, was enough for Gary O’Neil’s side to return to winning ways after just one victory in five league games.
The important three points takes Wolves up once place to 12th and they now have a very comfortable buffer of 11 points between themselves and the relegation zone.
Burnley remain in the bottom three having been unable to build on Saturday’s 5-0 win over Sheffield United, losing a 12th game in the Premier League already this season.
After being the better side for much of the opening 45 minutes, manager Vincent Kompany will be disappointed at how cheaply his Burnley side conceded the goal, and they never really recovered from going behind.
The game took a while to get going, but the final 20 minutes of the first half is when the action livened up.
Pablo Sarabia was central to many things in an attacking sense for Wolves this evening, but he was certainly not looking for goal when his cross deflected off Vitinho and forced James Trafford into his first bit of work of the night shortly before the half-hour mark, tipping over the crossbar.
The Spanish winger was then on the end of Nelson Semedo’s right-wing cross just two minutes later, but his eye-catching strike with the outside of the boot on the volley went narrowly over Trafford’s bar.
However, Burnley then got more of a footing in the encounter, with Zeki Amdouni and Jacob Bruun Larsen both having sighters from the edge of the area, with the shot counter racking up.
The visitor’s best opening came on 38 minutes, when Joao Gomes lost possession in a wide area close to the byline, forcing stand-in goalkeeper Daniel Bentley into two fine saves, denying both Jay Rodriguez and Josh Brownhill.
Burnley came into the game having just kept their first clean sheet of the season at the weekend, and they had shut Wolves out in their last three meetings, but the familiar sight of overplaying near their own penalty area meant they would not be extending that run.
Sander Berge was culpable of trying to dribble his way out of trouble and was caught before Sarabia picked out Matheus Cunha, who then laid it off for Hwang and the South Korean made no mistake to score his ninth of the season after just 16 games.
After being on top, the goal knocked the stuffing out of Burnley, who then struggled to get back on top.
Into the second half, it was the hosts who started stronger, as set pieces were proving difficult for Kompany’s men to deal with.
Firstly, Mario Lemina headed over from just a couple of yards out and was eventually flagged offside, but there was no foul given when Craig Dawson shrugged off Brownhill before playing a square ball virtually across the goal line; unfortunately for Wolves though, there was nobody on hand to tap home.
It would take Burnley until the 78th minute to register a shot in the second half, and it gave the home crowd a minor worry, as the ball fell to Vitinho from a cleared corner, but the right-back fired just over the top with Bentley reaching.
That failed to kickstart a Burnley onslaught though, as the home side continued to remain in control of proceedings, and saw the game out to claim a very well-received three points.
Wolves are back at Molineux over the weekend when they host another side embroiled in the relegation fight – Nottingham Forest – while Burnley face a tricky trip to the Amex to face Brighton & Hove Albion.
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