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Comment: Some faith restored at Wolves

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Glorious sunshine, a fantastic atmosphere, all that was needed was a Wolves goal,

writes Joe Edwards

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The Molineux faithful had to endure four successive 0-0 draws before this one but they were treated to not just one goal, not two, but three, including Wednesday's late penalty.

It was not just the long-awaited goals that were pleasing either, the performance as a whole delighted the home crowd, and importantly gave them some fresh optimism heading into the 2016/17 season.

Sticking with the 4-4-1-1 formation, which was deployed at Nottingham Forest, they pressed high, the transitions from defence to attack were quick, and ultimately they were entertaining to watch.

The fact that Wednesday made ten changes from the side that beat Cardiff 3-0 last weekend, Lucas Joao the only survivor, indeed played a part and Kenny Jackett's men had the ball in the net with less than five minutes gone.

Jed Wallace slotted home after a lovely reverse pass, only to be denied by an offside flag. Two minutes later though, the Wolves fans had reason to celebrate, wildly.

Yes, it was an own goal, but did anybody in the stadium aside from the 4,300-strong Wednesday supporters care? Certainly not.

There was as much relief as elation in seeing Matt Doherty's cross meet the boot of Michael Turner, go off the inside of the post and past Owls stopper Joe Wildsmith.

Where had this Wolves been hiding? Managers often talk about ending the season on a high, giving the fans something to shout about, and they very much did so.

There was soon a couple of heart-in-mouth moments, Conor Coady gifted the visitors with a free-kick on the edge of the area, which was taken by Lewis McGugan, and acrobatically saved by Carl Ikeme.

Aiden McGeady's effort from long-range deflected off Kortney Hause and out for a corner but before the break, Wolves doubled their advantage.

Doherty, once again, flew down the left-hand side and cut the ball back to George Saville, who had an effort rebound off the inside of the post minutes earlier, and he smashed the ball into the roof of the net. It was his fifth goal in the 19 games he has played since returning to the side in January, a decent return by all accounts.

Adam Le Fondre replaced Jed Wallace, who felt ill, at half-time but, admittedly, there was not a great amount of significant efforts on goal in the second period before McGugan's spot-kick.

Wednesday's Atdhe Nuhiu headed over from close range after some fine work by McGeady and Liam Palmer's powerful strike whistled past the far post.

Although Wolves were creating little in the way of clear cut chances, the crowd were not deterred. There were 25,488 fans at Molineux - the largest home attendance of the campaign - and it showed.

Of course, Wednesday went into the game with reason to party, having already confirmed their play-off place so their lacklustre performance did not matter, but the Wolves following were just as loud.

Referee Darren Bond gave the visitors a penalty, one minute shy of stoppage time, which McGugan calmly slotted home.

It was edge-of-the-seat stuff, dangerous corners swung in, goalmouth scrambles, until the final whistle was blown.

The situation has been the same for a while now, Wolves have had nothing to play for, other than pride.

Their performance in this one restored the fans' faith though and the squad did a lap of honour post-match, thanking those who have sticked with them this season.

Of course, it has been a largely disappointing campaign but with the likes of Nouha Dicko, Jordan Graham and Mike Williamson set to return, along with some new arrivals, Wolves could make a real crack of it next term.

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