Watford 2 Wolves 1 - match analysis and pictures

Manager Stale Solbakken is convinced of it, and the players say they are embracing the changes to the playing style being demanded to bring the upsurge about.

But until they click, there will be more frustrating afternoons like Saturday.

So a hurrah at least for the feeling that everyone seems to be pulling in the same direction. As with a week ago against Brighton, the reaction of Wolves' fanbase told us that the Molineux masses are behind Solbakken's bold new era.

The 1,825 visiting fans behind the goal stood and cheered their team off at the final whistle, their hearts warmed on a chilly day by the way their team carried the fight to the opposition to the very last even if the way towards the improvement they crave isn't clear.

Solbakken said this week that he may need two or three more transfer windows before he can really put his stamp on Wolves. But in defence of the current players, the chances of success were again severely blurred by harsh decisions.

If there was a sense of injustice at Brighton's 89th-minute penalty last week, then the red card to Christophe Berra provoked similar feelings of being wronged.

For the second successive game, Wolves were reduced to 10 men before half-time, and if Karl Henry's dismissal seven days before was justified, Berra's was baffling.

He and Troy Deeney crossed arms as they tussled for 17-year-old Nathaniel Chalobah's through ball, but the former Walsall striker had edged ahead and got his shot off by the time Oxfordshire referee Graham Scott halted play, surely proof alone that a goalscoring opportunity wasn't denied.

Quite what Scott was thinking of, only he will know. But his controversial decision certainly shaped the game just 25 minutes into the contest.

It forced Wolves into an early shuffle with Jermaine Pennant sacrificed for Danny Batth, whose diligent extra work on the training ground was reflected in a solid performance.

With the scales tipped in their favour, Gianfranco Zola's side dominated for the rest of the first period. Wolves failed to register a single effort on or off target.

As the 'Watford Messi' – little Argentinian-Italian forward Fernando Forestieri – popped up 'between the lines' in exactly the sort of positions Solbakken would like his players to drift into, the Hornets stung Wolves with one goal and threatened more.

The critical blow came from Bakary Sako's overhit corner after the Frenchman had previously struggled to get his set-pieces past the first man.

Wolves, having swept upfield, were under-manned as Mark Yeates found Forestieri to sprint away and cross to the unmarked on-loan Chelsea midfielder Chalobah to notch his first senior goal at the second attempt after Carl Ikeme saved his first shot.

Chalobah and Daniel Pudil then exploited the extra man to fire just wide as Wolves were relieved to get to half-time without further damage.

But if they thought the interval would bring a change in fortunes, they were sadly mistaken. Ikeme, who had a couple of shaky moments, had Watford fans screaming for a second goal after carrying Yeates' cross almost over the line, before Hogg chipped too high as Solbakken's attempts to match up the home side with a 3-4-2 formation in which Bjorn Sigurdarson played wide right couldn't reverse the tide.

Out of the blue, however, Wolves were handed a 54th-minute lifeline. Sako overhit another set-piece, but this time with much better consequences as keeper Manuel Almunia ended up misjudging his 40-yard free-kick and could only palm it into the net for the winger's seventh goal of the season.

For the second week running, it triggered another impressive fightback from 10 men as Wolves belatedly came to life in front of goal.

What was disappointing again, though, was the lack of impact from the front men.

Notwithstanding poor service, Kevin Doyle failed to trouble Watford's three central defenders while the much busier Sigurdarson couldn't get forward enough.

It was left to the midfield to provide the goal threat and Sako fired inches wide before substitute David Davis, who replaced the injured Tongo Doumbia with 16 minutes left, had three half-chances from just outside the box.

After he blazed over from the first two with his less favoured left foot, the midfielder at last forced a diving stop from Almunia with his last one.

But by then, Deeney had punished slack defending to glance home Forestieri's cross in the 68th minute. That put the seal on a fourth successive away defeat which will leave Wolves relieved to return to Molineux.

Successive home games against Nottingham Forest and Millwall should finally kick-start the points tally again.

By Tim Nash