Wolves fail to win by a landslide
TWO GOALS BUT NO REAL BITE
Back in Europe in more than one sense, Wolves earned the predicted victory against crusaders but were made to sweat in the July heat.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side only returned from china on Sunday, having competed in the Premier League asia Trophy, and perhaps jetlag could be attributed as the cause for a scoreline closer than expected.
Indeed the winning margin would have been just one but for a late error by goalkeeper Sean O’Neill that gifted Ruben Vinagre a second with the last kick of the game.
Wolves have waited nearly four decades to be back in continental competition and will happilyy take a moment of fortune. They hope to navigate this and the next ext two rounds of Europa a League qualifying to reach the group stage and make a real impression.
The competition will get harder, even if crusaders put up obdurate opposition.
They ran and blocked d heroically. It was not until til the 93rd minute that O’Neill, eill, who had excelled, fumbledd Joao Moutinho’s cross to Vinagre to tap in and add to Diogo Jota’s first-half strike.
Still it was a mighty achievement by crusaders, who operate on a different scale to Wolves. They are still part-time, with players working in retail, banks, schools, and social services. They had to book two days off to feature at Molineux and it is estimated one week’s wage for say, Moutinho, would cover their annual budget.
So the capacity crowd carried an understandable sense of expectancy. Not since 1980 had Wolves been in
Europe and the heat offered a warm welcome back. as anticipated Nuno’s side utterly dominated possession — 80 per cent to 20 per cent — as crusaders laid six across the back. From the sidelines manager Stephen Baxter shouted encou encouragement. He only turned fullup full-time last year after giving up the sports shop he had ru run for two decades. Eventually, in the 37th minute, the dam cracked. Intricate build-up play gave adama Traore space t to cross and Jota connected n with it sweetly to h half-volley past O’Neill. M Mel Eaves had been the last Wolves player to score in Europ Europe, against PSV 39 years ago. In the second half Nuno introduced Raul Jimenez, less than three weeks after he appeared for Mexico at the Gold cup, and he created an excellent chance, crossing for Morgan Gibbs-White who headed just wide. Even after Vinagre’s late goal, Nuno told his counterpart ‘bravo’ for the way his side had played. ‘We have to look back at the game and see what moment we are in,’ said Nuno. ‘crusaders were well organised. We need to be faster.’ Nuno will assess an injury to Ruben Neves, who went off holding his side.