MASK OF SORROW
Nuno misses out on top four
A TOP-FOUR spot went begging at Molineux – but Nuno Espirito Santo’s mask showed no sign of slipping.
The Molineux chief remained stony-faced after this 90-minute bore-fest as he refused to deviate from the ‘one game at a time’ mantra.
Victory by two goals would have taken Wolves into fourth – for 24 hours at least – and given the club a psychological lift ahead of their Europa Cup trip to Olympiakos later this week.
But those lofty ambitions appeared out of reach as Graham Potter’s Seagulls eked out a deserved point.
With just two shots on target from the hosts and as many corners throughout 90 minutes this was as insipid as it gets.
Perhaps tiredness was a factor – this encounter was Wolves’ 47th match of a hectic campaign that started at the end of July.
But then, perhaps those canny supporters of both clubs knew this wouldn’t be a classic. Seven out of the last nine clashes between these two have ended goalless.
Asked whether he was happy with the impetus shown, Nuno said: “It’s not about that. We’re not disappointed about that, we couldn’t perform as we wanted.
“We are game-by-game. We do what we have to today and then we move on to Thursday where we have a big challenge. We didn’t create too many situations. Brighton were very well organised.
“We weren’t able to unbalance them and they couldn’t do that to us. We didn’t move the ball fast enough.
“There were a lot of issues, mainly offensively.”
Only Oxford and Portsmouth have played in more games in England this season than Wolves and, asked if it was catching up with the players, Santo replied, somewhat gruffly, “No.”
There really wasn’t much to write home about.
Raul Jimenez missed the target with the only real chance of the opening half.
Brighton looked neat and tidy without troubling Rui Patricio who only had a couple of deadball situations to deal with.
Their best effort came at the start of the second half when Leandro Trossard fizzed in a low cross that just needed a touch.
In the later stages the Seagulls were stretched when Adama Traore leapt off the bench and he was involved in the brightest moment when Jimenez blazed over as the match entered its final moments.
For Brighton chief Potter this was a welcome point. He said: “Of course, we hope it will be valuable at the end of the season.
“We were delighted to keep a clean sheet at the home of a very good team.”