This never felt like a game that would get the pulse racing but for Burnley it resembled a deeply demoralising defeat after the high of putting five goals past the Premier League’s bottom club a few days ago. Even in the immediate aftermath of their 5-0 trouncing of Sheffield United on Saturday it was hard to truly quantify the weight of victory and the more cynical were vindicated here.
A tougher test was guaranteed in this game and Hwang Hee-chan’s neat first-half finish extended his fine goalscoring form and Burnley’s sorry away run. If there was any doubt that the rest of this season remains an uphill challenge then this was it, with Wolves coming out on top despite one of their more unconvincing performances under Gary O’Neil.
“I thought it was a massive win for us because I’ve watched a lot of Burnley,” the Wolves head coach said. “They are very well organised and every team I’ve watched play them they have struggled to get up the pitch with the ball. It is disrespectful to just say [it is just] ‘job done’, because they won the Championship by a long way and spent £90m in the summer.”
Hwang again made the difference for Wolves, his eighth league goal of the season towards the end of the first half proving the winner. Only Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min, Hwang’s South Korean compatriot, can better his tally this season. No wonder Wolves are keen for Hwang to sign a new long-term contract.
“His numbers are really impressive,” O’Neil said. “Will he continue to score at this rate for the rest of the season? It would be an incredible effort to do so. When the ball falls to Channy in the penalty area, I have a really good feeling that the ball is going to end in the back of the net. It is no fluke.”
Vincent Kompany enjoyed a glass of red wine after Burnley’s demolition of Sheffield United – they were the last of the 92 clubs in England’s top four tiers to taste victory on home turf this campaign – but he stressed it was straight back to business here.
Everything was going well until 42 minutes, when Sander Berge was ambushed after collecting a pass from the centre-back Dara O’Shea 20 yards from the Burnley goal. Pablo Sarabia seized possession and Matheus Cunha freed Hwang, who quickly adjusted his feet and slotted the ball past James Trafford.
Until that point it seemed Burnley – if anyone – would be the most likely to strike and light up a game short on quality. Burnley were buoyed by victory at Turf Moor but arrived intent on improving the worst away record in the division.
Dan Bentley made a smart save to tip a Josh Brownhill effort round a post after Zeki Amdouni barged João Gomes off the ball. Jóhann Gudmundsson, on in place of the injured Luca Koleosho, teed up Jay Rodriguez for the first big chance on 38 minutes but Bentley repelled his effort before dealing with the rebound. O’Neil was infuriated that a double save was needed after a sloppy throw-in. “I’m glad you didn’t have a microphone on me at that point,” he said, raising a smile.
If anything typified a difficult evening for Burnley, one that began with such promise, it was the sight of Hjalmar Ekdal wiping out Cunha on halfway as Wolves set about piling forward on the counterattack. Burnley lacked class in key moments and, while Wolves were far from impressive, in Hwang, Sarabia and co they have a clutch of players capable of delivering when needed.
But it will take more than a draining eighth defeat in nine to puncture Kompany’s spirit. “I’m seeing a team that is alive, a team that is in games and that is fighting,” the Burnley manager said. “We believe that we have been in games for quite some time now. We have to believe that this will give us the results we need.”
