Wolves 1 Aston Villa 0 - player ratings

Carl Ikeme

From his busiest game of the season last week at Stoke to his quietest of the campaign here. Didn't have a single save to make in the 90 minutes.

Great claim of a cross with the final touch of the match, but nothing to say otherwise. 6/10

Conor Coady

Coady might have you believe he's a midfielder. On recent evidence he's an even better right-back.

Taken to the position like a duck to water (it's worth recalling that Kenny Jackett was vilified for experimenting with Coady there in pre-season) and he gave his most accomplished performance yet since switching from midfield. 8/10

Danny Batth

Batth's had a split personality of late in that away from home he's been solid, but at Molineux he's been more susceptible to gaffes than Donald Trump doing a Twitter Q&A. Batth reversed the trend here with possibly his best home display of the season.

Sniffed out danger and formed a very effective alliance with Stearman. 8/10

Richard Stearman

A Twitter meltdown greeted the news that Mike Williamson wasn't playing but Stearman and Batth justified Paul Lambert's faith by picking up where they left off at Sheffield Wednesday.

Gave Agbonlahor and McCormack absolutely no encouragement, bar that one occasion when the latter go in between them to head over the bar.

Remarkable that he was snubbed for so long earlier in the season.7/10

Matt Doherty

Linked well with Cavaleiro in the first half, but after the break his attacking threat lessened.

Kept Adomah quiet, to the extent that the winger was given the hook on 67 minutes. 7/10

David Edwards

Wolves' best player before a stray elbow from Jedinak had Edwards seeing stars. Soldiered on manfully but was too dizzy to continue.

In the first half he was Wolves' lynchpin, breaking up a high number of Villa attacks and setting Wolves in motion with quick passes to the four attackers ahead of him. 7/10

Jack Price

Not at his precise best by any means but he was full of energy and looked to move the ball quickly.

One of many who began to tire late on but played an important part in Wolves' late rearguard as Villa pressed without potency. 7/10

Helder Costa

Full of flicks and intelligent movement in the opening stages.

One lung-bursting sprint from one box to the other when teeing up Dicko in the second half.

He was running through treacle at the end, which shows you the effort he'd put in. Costa has added fantastic work ethic to his Premier League-standard ability. 7/10

Joe Mason

Floated around in the number 10 role and caused Villa no end of problems in the first half.

Finally broke his - and Wolves' strikers - duck when he netted his first goal since August 20. Mason was fortuitous in the way the ball was palmed into his path but after that Sheffield Wednesday horror miss he showed composure to find the net with calm.

Not quite as effective on the left wing late on but that's a very good 90 minutes under his belt. Adds a different dynamic to Wolves' attacking play with his intelligent movement. 7/10

Ivan Cavaleiro

Started the game looking lively but he soon faded into the background.

The required work rate, yes, but no end product from the Portuguese winger, who was replaced in the second half. Not his day. 6/10

Nouha Dicko

If your glass is half full then Dicko helped create the opening goal with his low cross, was a livewire presence playing on the line of the Villa defence and got in some great goalscoring positions.

If your glass is half empty then Dicko spurned a couple of good chances - one of them glaring - when he should have squared the ball to his team mates. 6/10

Substitutes

Bright Enobakhare (for Cavaleiro, 64)

A decent cameo from the youngster who couldn't quite wrap his foot around the ball for his late chance. 6/10

George Saville (for Edwards, 74)

Kept things tidy and had the confidence to go for goal from 30 yards, which keeper Johnstone saved. 6/10

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson (for Dicko, 77)

A big surprise to see him not start after excellent performances at Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke.

Full of beans in his 13 minutes. Brilliant hold-up play for that Enobakhare chance and then he chased the keeper down to block his clearance and earn one of the biggest ovations of the day. Talk about defending from the front. 7/10

Subs not used: Burgoyne, Iorfa, Hause, Gibbs-White