Wolves 1 Crystal Palace 2 - match report

Wolves produced arguably their best performance of the season only to lose their four-match winning run and their unbeaten home record against Crystal Palace.

And it was down to Wilfried Zaha, who produced two stunning finishes in the 67^th and 71^st minutes to make it 16 points out of the last 18 for Palace and cancel out Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's 53^rd-minute opener.

In an incident-packed game played in driving rain in front of 19,561 – Molineux's lowest league gate for over five-and-a-half years, Wolves had winger Slawomir Peszko stretchered off with knee ligament damage and hit the bar through Kevin Doyle, while Christophe Berra failed to hit the target from two headers from point-blank range late on after Zaha worked his magic.

Boss Stale Solbakken made one change to the side that beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 on Saturday, with Peszko replacing the injured Razak Boukari.

Anthony Forde took Peszko's place on the bench in an otherwise unchanged 18.

It was a chilly night at Molineux, but the teams did their best to warm the fans with a riveting first-half performance that saw no shortage of chances, most of which fell to Wolves.

Roger Johnson volleyed the first of them wide from the first of Bakary Sako's six first-half corners Wolves won.

Joel Ward then blocked Ebanks-Blake's shot from Kevin Doyle's cross after the latter was left galloping through on the right wing after a slip by a Palace defender.

In a lively opening, Wolves captain Karl Henry got away without punishment for a lunge on Jonathan Williams which left the Palace midfielder writhing in agony.

Palace had their first sight of goal in the 15^th minute with a rising, 25-yard shot from Yannick Bolasie which flew a couple of feet over.

Wolves then stepped up a gear and hit a purple patch as the hosts created several chances.

Doyle saw a first-time shot blocked by Darcy Blake after Peszko's effort also hit a Palace defender as the visitors struggled to clear their lines in the penalty area.

Henry got away with another no-nonsense tackle on Williams on the far touchline in an incident which sparked fury from several Palace players, with the Wolves skipper briefly involved in a shoving match before order was restored.

Palace recovered the better and Kevin Foley was forced into a vital block in the 21^st minute to deny Bolasie's first-time effort after a fine run down the right and cross from dangerman Zaha had been dummied.

Wolves were struggling at that point with Stephen Ward grounded as he appeared to hurt his ankle before getting up and continuing.

Zaha was coming more into the game and Wolves were at full stretch at times to deal with his advances.

Tongo Doumbia used illegal means to stop him however in the 24^th minute to concede a free kick right on the edge of the area.

Thankfully for Wolves however, Mile Jedinak's low effort struck the wall and bounced out for a throw-in.

Wolves launched a heavy attacking spree in the 31^st minute when Ebanks-Blake saw a header palmed away by keeper Julian Speroni after Stephen Ward fed Sako on the overlap for an inviting cross.

A minute later, Sako's acutely angled cross-cum-shot was tipped over by Speroni before Doyle floated a header from Sako's corner as Wolves continued to press for the opener.

Doyle then should have won a corner from the move of the half as his shot appeared to come off Dean Moxey after Carl Ikeme rolled the ball to Peszko, who exchanged a one-two with Ebanks-Blake before the Polish winger looked up and slid his centre to the Ireland international.

Palace weathered the storm however and could have won a penalty in the 45^th minute when Zaha was sent sprawling in the box, only for the referee to wave play on.

Wolves fans clapped their team off at the interval after a breathless first half.

And they had even more reason to applaud their team within eight minutes of the restart after they were gifted the opening goal.

Damien Delaney lost control of the ball as he dribbled the ball out of defence after taking a throw from Speroni and Ebanks-Blake needed no second invitation as he easily dispossessed the Palace centre-back and slotted across Speroni from just inside the box.

It was Ebanks-Blake's fifth goal of the season and third in a row in the league against Palace.

Seven minutes later, Doyle volleyed against the bar from eight yards out after a jinking run from Sako.

And the home side were made to pay heavily as Zaha punished them in ruthless fashion.

First the England Under-21 international latched onto a wayward header from Berra before showing dazzling footwork to leave Roger Johnson on his backside and supply a cool finish across Ikeme.

But replays afterwards showed the goal should have been disallowed for offside.

Four minutes later Zaha produced a shot of stunning power with almost no backlift to give Ikeme no chance after taking on Stephen Ward.

It was a bitter pill for Wolves to swallow after they lost Peszko in the 71^st minute to a tackle from Jonathan Williams, who was swiftly replaced by Jonathan Parr to a torrent of abuse from the Molineux masses.

There was still time for Berra to miss the target from point-blank range from two headers from Sako corners.

But this wasn't Wolves' night – it belonged to Zaha.