HWANG FIRE
Hee has last laugh for Wolves with debut goal
BRUNO LAGE admitted he was worrying whether his side could grab his first Premier League win as Wolves boss until Watford helped break their goal duck.
Having failed to score in their opening three games of the season, Wolves spent the opening 74 minutes looking like a side that still couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo.
Nelson Semedo’s first-half miss had Lage fearing whether his side would ever score as they made it 69 shots without a goal.
But just when it looked like it would be another frustrating day at the office for the new Wolves boss, his side were gifted the lead by Francisco Sierralta’s own goal.
Watford boss Xisco Munoz had hailed this as the start of a new era following the departure of Troy Deeney to Birmingham during the international break.
While he may have lost Troy, he was not expecting to be undone by a Trojan horse in the shape of Sierralta.
The Chile FA only gave the centre-half the all-clear to play late on Friday night when they withdrew their complaint regarding his no-show for their World Cup qualifiers.
Nine minutes later Wolves’ travelling fans were able to finally hail a goal by one of their own players.
Sub Hee-chan Hwang, who failed to score in 18 Bundesliga games for RB Leipzig last season, marked his debut with a one-yard tap-in to seal a welcome win.
Lage said: “At half-time, after Semedo missed that chance, I was thinking what we need to do to score. It was about giving them confidence and believing that with the chances the goals will come.
“The second half was very good and we got the two goals and deserved the win.” Wolves took an early grip of the game, but Marcal and Reuben Neves were hopelessly off-target .
The game was 35 minutes old before Francisco Trincao warmed Daniel Bachmann’s palms with a 25-yard drive.
By then the hosts had grabbed a foothold in the game through Moussa Sissoko on his home debut.
The transfer window arrival from Spurs forced Jose Sa into a full-length save on 15 minutes.
He then nutmegged Marcal to free Ismaila Sarr but his cross was just ahead of Joshua King’s outstretched leg at the far post. That was to be as good as it got for Watford.
They had Bachmann to thank for not going into half-time a goal down. The
Austrian saved superbly from Semedo, who was then guilty of firing horribly wide when sent clear by Raul Jimenez’s flick on the hour.
Jimenez then rattled the ad boards rather than the back of the net with a header from Joao Moutinho’s free-kick before the travelling fans finally had a goal to celebrate.
Marcal whipped in a cross from Moutinho’s short corner, which found the back of the net via Sierralta.
Hwang then bundled the ball over the line after Marcal’s header from Semedo’s cross was blocked on the line.
Worryingly for Xisco, it is his side who have now gone three games without a goal.
He said: “I think in the first half it was very good but after the goal we were a little down.
“The difference in the Premier League is in the box. If you create chances and don’t score, they will have chances and score.”
After Semedo missed, I was thinking what we need to do to score. It was about giving them confidence and we got the two goals