Wolves 0-2 Crystal Palace
by Gene Sylvester 
at Molineux Stadium

ROB EDWARDS stepped into the Wolves hot seat to take charge of his first game as manager following his arrival at Molineux, but despite the return of one of the club’s prodigal sons, it was a familiar story as a goal from Daniel Munoz and a cracker from Yeremy Pino earned Crystal Palace a 2-0 win.

The Wanderers manager received a sizzling ovation from the home fans as he took his place in the dugout prior to kick off, with the fans belting out a rousing rendition of “Hi Ho Wolverhampton” followed by “Rob Edwards barmy army.”

The ex-Wolves player-turned-manager had mentioned in his programme notes that the players need to “leave it all out there on the pitch” and for the first 60 minutes of this clash they matched Oliver Glasner’s Palace well.

The new Wolves boss was quick to highlight these qualities after the game.

“We ran with more intensity and won more duels, that’s a fact. We could do the basics better and there’s things we can tidy up on.”

Edwards went on to say: “There wasn’t loads in the game. We created three big chances, but they put the ball in the back of the net.”

The Wolves boss would have been pleased with the opening exchanges of this match, with Jorgen Strand Larsen threatening the Palace goal early on with an effort that ultimately went wide.

The home side almost took an unlikely lead in the 24th minute when a low Joao Gomes free-kick from 25 yards was saved by Dean Henderson following a deflection off Adam Wharton in the Palace box.

The keeper’s attempted clearance cannoned off the incoming Ladislav Krejci towards goal, but the inadvertent attempt at goal flew over the bar to save Henderson’s blushes.

The away side finally made the breakthrough in the 62nd minute when a short corner routine found its way to the edge of the box, where the unmarked Wharton struck a left-footed effort at the goal which deflected off a clutch of bodies in the box before falling at the feet of Munoz.

With Johnstone having committed to the dive to save Wharton’s effort, the Palace right back was left with a simple finish into an unguarded net from 12 yards out.

If the first goal was slightly fortuitous, the second goal was simply sublime.

It had looked as though the home side had thwarted a Palace attack with substitute Hwang Hee-chan looking to pass into the feet of Strand Larsen from the right back position, but his attempted pass was cut out with the ball falling to the feet of Pino on the edge of the Wolves box.

The diminutive Spaniard curled a belter into the top corner with Johnstone only able to tip the ball onto the underside of the crossbar and into the net.

Palace manager Glasner was understandably happy with his team’s performance: “It was hard work not knowing how Wolves would play. It was a big win.”