Gary O'Neil sadness at summer signing playing time

The defender, who returned to Wolves on a free transfer in the summer, has only started one Premier League match this campaign as understudy to Nelson Semedo.

But he ended up scoring the winning goal off the bench against Chelsea on Christmas Eve playing as a midfielder as Wolves looked to secure their lead, and O’Neil hopes he can reward the Irishman with more minutes in the future.

“Doc, as he always is, was a goal threat,” O’Neil said.

“Having to change an attacking player for a defender can be seen as us helping to shore things up, but Doc is still a goal threat, which he showed.

“I’m really pleased for him as he’s worked hard and I’m disappointed I’ve not managed to use him as much as he deserves.

“But that is how the game goes sometimes and being professional and ready, with the way he works, he got his reward and got us an important goal.

“He’s been really patient and it’s mainly because I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from Nelson, who has done really well down that side.

“Doc can play on the left but Rayan and Hugo are both there as well.

“Doc understands. He’s disappointed, of course, with how little game time he’s had and I’m disappointed as well that I’ve not managed to find a way to use him more.

“But we are working on it and I understands he does need to be playing matches, and coming on the pitch and having an impact like that does no harm to his chances.”

Meanwhile, Wolves’ camp has suffered from an illness bug of late and had a depleted squad against Chelsea, with Boubacar Traore, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Fabio Silva all missing.

Rayan Ait-Nouri also came off with fatigue and O’Neil is now having to manage his options.

“Rayan has been out for a while and he signalled that he was feeling tired,” O’Neil added.

“Substitutions were difficult. We had Sasa as an attacking option on the bench and then the rest of the attackers were kids, so every time we had to change someone it was a midfielder or defender that was going on. We do have three games in six days, so getting some of them off in key times was important and the subs that went on had a really good impact. Tommy (Doyle) worked really hard and Hugo (Bueno) did well down that side.”

Craig Dawson came off with a knock but is expected to be fit to play Brentford tomorrow after a deep cut on his knee.

Pedro Neto is also in line for a potential return to the squad tomorrow.

The winger has missed two months with a hamstring strain and was targeting the Christmas Eve game as his return, but is hoping to be ready for tomorrow.