Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Julen Lopetegui admits he was shocked by the amount of stoppage time played ahead of his side conceding their last-gasp equaliser against Everton.
Yerry Mina poked home from point-blank range in the final minute of the allotted additional nine after Hwang Hee-Chan had fired Wolves ahead in the first half.
Lopetegui said: “I was surprised (with the amount of time added on) it was a lot. It was the first time that I have seen this in the Premier League this year.
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“They scored the goal and it’s a pity for me, maybe we have to defend the corner better next time.”
The Spaniard admitted that his side faced a stern examination though, facing a team battling to avoid the drop. He said: “It’s football, we won at Everton in the last minute and we lost two points against them. It was a pity that we lost two points but it is not easy to play these kind of matches against one good team that are fighting to survive in the Premier League.
“It’s one final for them. They won by scoring five goals against Brighton so that is why I am happy with the hard work, the commitment and the attitude of all the players.
“I was disappointed that we conceded in the last minute but this game was a one-off because we have achieved our main aim. People like Raul Jimenez deserved to play in front of his fans and his coach and we tried to balance that.”
Wolves, who are 13th, had already secured their Premier League status and can’t drop below 15th now in the final table, which is quite the achievement given that they were propping up the table at the time of their current boss’ arrival.
Lopetegui said: “If you look back to five months ago, it was a big success to finish in this position. It was very difficult, we were bottom when we went to play Everton on Boxing Day and that’s why in my belief the work the players have done here should be merited.
“We have to be ready for next season. We have made a big investment but we’ve had big problems and I am sure that we need to try and improve our squad to compete better in the next year.”
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