Wolves got more minutes in their legs on Monday evening as Ki-Jana Hoever and Morgan Gibbs-White found the back of the net, but Las Palmas took the honours in the pre-season friendly.
In game number three under Bruno Lage, Wolves trailed 2-0 at the break, but made a fist of things after the interval, thanks to Hoever’s fine volley and a composed finish from Gibbs-White, and will have benefitted from another work out in the Spanish sun.
The friendly, which took place at Wolves’ Marbella camp, brought first starts for Jose Sa and Yerson Mosquera, and Wolves began with a good tempo, providing energy down the wings in a 4-4-2 system.
The best chance of the half fell to Patrick Cutrone, who turned over a Joao Moutinho free-kick, while at the other end Sa produced a two-handed save to continue his promising start to the test.
Unfortunately for the goalkeeper however, he was beaten twice in the final six minutes of the half. First, Ale Garcia turned into an empty net after Sa had saved with his leg, giving the Spaniards the lead.
And they doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time with a devastating counter attack, which was finished by Watford loanee Adalberto Penaranda, who cut onto his left foot to get beyond Ruben Neves and fired underneath Sa.
At the break, Lage made eight changes and two fresh faces combined to find a route back into the game. Youngster Hugo Bueno dug out a fine cross on the left and it was met by an even better finish, as Hoever’s connection was perfect and his volley unstoppable.
Wolves enjoyed an improved spell of possession from that point, putting Las Palmas under pressure, however a misplaced pass from Bueno saw the Spaniards regain their two-goal advantage, as Jese applied a simple finish.
The goals kept coming at both ends however, and Wolves got themselves back to within a goal as Mosquera clipped a ball over the top for Gibbs-White, who was composed and slotted home with seven minutes remaining.
In the closing stages the old gold showed a determination to earn a draw, and Maximilian Kilman almost forced an equaliser, but his effort was bravely blocked, but nonetheless, Wolves will have taken a great deal from the test.
Team | Sa (Ruddy 46), Semedo (Hoever 46), Mosquera, Saiss (Marques 46), Marcal (Kilman 46), Trincao (Cundle 46), Moutinho (Dendoncker 46), Neves (Gibbs-White 46), Ait-Nouri (Bueno 46), Cutrone (Dadashov 68), Silva (Campbell 68).
Unused subs |Moulden, Sondergaard, Perry, Estrada.
