Wolves 1 – 0 Nottingham Forest

Wolves came out on top in a game of two penalties to climb out of the relegation zone and leave Nottingham Forest bottom of the Premier League.

Skipper Ruben Neves drove the hosts in front from the spot after a four-minute video assistant referee delay at the start of the second half.

After a second lengthy VAR intervention when referee Thomas Bramall initially missed Matheus Nunes pulling back Ryan Yates, Wolves keeper Jose Sa superbly turned away Brennan Johnson’s spot-kick.

The save was made more remarkable as Sa has been playing with a broken bone in his wrist since he damaged it against Fulham on 13 August.

Max Kilman earlier hit the inside of a post with a header and was unfortunate the rebound went straight to Forest keeper Dean Henderson.

It was a superb way for interim Wolves bosses Steve Davis and James Collins to start a potentially crucial week that ends with a home game against Leicester next Sunday.

However, the pain goes on for Forest boss Steve Cooper. His side are without a win since August and have picked up a single point from their past seven games.

For lifelong Wolves fan Davis, presiding over this victory will be particularly satisfying.

Chairman Jeff Shi’s search for a permanent replacement for Bruno Lage continues and Wolves’ biggest problem – a lack of goal threat – remains.

But Neves’ goal – only Wolves’ fourth in the league this season and their first in the second half of a game for 11 matches – gave them their second win in 17 matches and will lift spirits around a club seemingly in freefall.

No-one encapsulates Wolves’ slide down the Premier League more than Adama Traore.

During two seventh-placed finishes under Nuno Espirito Santo, the Spain winger was a genuine threat.

While inconsistency has always been an irritating feature of his game, at his best Traore is capable of unhinging defences with his pace alone.

But with only three league goals since 2019, his contract running out at the end of the season and a hoped-for move to Barcelona failing to materialise, Traore’s time at Molineux appears to be drifting to a mediocre end.

He at least looked capable of creating chances here, crossing for Kilman to head against a post and Rayan Ait-Nouri to nod wide at the far post.

It was Traore’s shot which struck Harry Toffolo and eventually brought Wolves their penalty after Bramall was sent to the screen by VAR Lee Mason.

Forest handed Cooper a new three-year contract after their four-goal hammering at Leicester a fortnight ago. Without it, his tenure would be extremely precarious now.

He was visibly frustrated at Wolves’ penalty, particularly as the game had moved to the other end of the pitch and the hosts were preparing to take a corner when Mason alerted Bramall to Nunes’ infringement.

Cooper could only watch in despair as Johnson wasted the opportunity to level.

A few hours before kick-off, Forest posted a tweet depicting one of their players cuddling three wolves with the caption ‘Playtime’. Evidently someone senior at the City Ground did not like it so the post was deleted.

The tweet proved to be ill-advised, given the outcome. At the moment, despite a summer outlay in excess of £100m, Forest is the ones who look like a becalmed version of what they are supposed to be.

source – BBC Sport