Wood puts a nail into Nuno’s top four hopes

YOU don’t always get a second chance in football, particularly when the first one comes and goes deep in stoppage time. We were nearly three minutes into the five added on by referee Mike Dean when Matej Vydra headed back across goal at a chilly Turf Moor.

The ball reached Chris Wood a few yards out. Wolves froze and their captain Conor Coady, standing on the line, was the only man between Wood and what seemed a certain goal. Amazingly, the New Zealand striker nodded wide.

Vydra held his head in his hands and so did manager Sean Dyche on the touchline. It felt like Burnley’s last chance had gone and Wolves were off the hook.

Moments later, Wood was given an unlikely shot at redemption. Substitute Robbie Brady swung over another cross, this time Phil Bardsley headed back across and Wood (right) went airborne to meet it with an overhead kick.

You had to sympathise with Matt Doherty because Wood’s boot was high and that must have affected the way he shaped his body to block the shot. The ball struck the Wolves substitute halfway down his left arm and Dean pointed to the spot. VAR backed him and a relieved Wood did the rest, hitting a 96th-minute penalty into the top corner.

‘After he missed that chance, it shows what strength of character he’s got to step up and take the penalty,’ said Burnley boss Sean Dyche. ‘I’ve been talking about the strong mentality we’ve got for weeks, that feeling of them never knowing when they’re quite beaten.

‘I talk to them all the time about playing until the last breath of the game because things can change quickly and we saw that tonight.’

It felt harsh on Wolves, who had been the better team and came so close to winning with an excellent strike from Raul Jimenez.

The Mexican broke the deadlock in the 76th minute when Adama Traore drove at the heart of the Burnley defence and fed Doherty.

His shot was blocked and looped up invitingly for Jimenez, who executed a textbook volley with his right foot inside Nick Pope’s left- hand post. The England keeper had no chance.

It was Jimenez’s 26th goal of another excellent season and his 17th in the Premier League. No Wolves player has scored that many in the top flight since John Richards in 1976. Wolves fans dubbed him King John and Jimenez is achieving legendary status of his own at Molineux.

‘Of course it’s hard to take,’ said

Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo. ‘Every goal you concede is hard to take and if it’s in the final moments it’s even harder.

‘We were well- organised and always in control. But even when you prepare well, justice in the game doesn’t exist, that’s not the point of football.’

A draw suited neither side. It probably ended Wolves’ outside hopes of qualifying for the Champions League — and Burnley’s of making the Europa League. Pope was by far the busier goalkeeper and Wolves went close through Willy Boly and Jimenez before the first water break.

Diogo Jota also hit the side- netting before Burnley created their best chance from a breakaway just before half-time. Substitute Johann Berg Gudmundsson swung a first-time pass into the path of Jay Rodriguez in the box. The striker’s first touch was heavy, but it was still an excellent effort by Coady to get across and block his shot.

Normal service was resumed after the break as Ruben Neves volleyed straight at Pope from the edge of the area and Daniel Podence dragged another effort just wide, before Jimenez struck.

It was a goal worthy of winning any game but Wood had the last word.

‘I didn’t really see it, but the boys said it was a penalty, so I just needed to tuck it away,’ said the Burnley striker. ‘We fight until the end, that’s what we’re so good at.’