Brighton 0 Wolves 0
Wolves played out an entertaining goalless draw with Brighton & Hove Albion which saw Gary O’Neil’s men extend their unbeaten run to six matches.
In search for a fourth consecutive top-flight win in 50 years, the Old Gold had their chances, as did the Seagulls, with the returning Pedro Neto proving to be a threat down the right hand side, while Matheus Cunha spurned the best opportunity of the game just after the break as Wolves produced a disciplined showing at the other end of the pitch to earn their first goalless draw of the O’Neil era.
In an end-to-end first 45 minutes at the Amex, it was the hosts who had the best of the opportunities to take a lead into the break, as both teams tries to catch their opposition out with long balls.
But Wolves stood strong to the pressure from the Seagulls, who were looking to make it four games without defeat in their hunt to get back up the table following their positive start to the season.
In their red away kit for this fixture, Wolves’ defensive trio of Craig Dawson, Maximilian Kilman and Toti were doing well to stand up against a barrage of Brighton crosses into the box, while Kilman showed his strength by hustling and bustling the home side’s attacking pair of Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro.
The hosts were trying to exploit Wolves from balls into the box, with several corners posing a threat to the visitors, including one which saw Facundo Buonanotte found at the far post to head past Jose Sa in goal, but Wolves were fortunate to see Tommy Doyle covering behind his goalkeeper and clear the ball off the goal line.
Wolves’ best chance of the first half fell the way of Neto. In the team for the first time since his injury in the 2-2 draw against Newcastle United at the backend of October, the winger used his pace to get Wolves on the counter before hitting a curling left-footed effort narrowly wide of Jason Steele’s upright.
Brighton’s main attacking threat came through set-pieces as the blue and white shirts continued to put balls into the box, but Sa and his defence in front of him were equal to everything the hosts were able to throw at the red shirts.
The end to the opening 45 minutes got a bit heated as both sets of coaching staff came to blows on the touchline, while Cunha was not too pleased with some of the officiating decisions. The Brazilian believed Billy Gilmour should have at least been booked for twice cutting him off nowhere near the ball, but earned himself a yellow card for his protestations, and tempers continued to flare as the teams went down the tunnel for the half-time break.
Half-time | Brentford 0-0 Wolves
Straight from the kick-off, Wolves produced the best moment of the game to that point as the visitors broke through Neto. The forward raced into the Brighton box before cutting a pass into the centre of the penalty area to Cunha who pulled a save from Steele with his first shot, before turning the rebound over the crossbar.
Despite Wolves’ bright start to the half, Brighton came back strongly, and could have had a goal of their own if not for more impressive defending by the Old Gold. After Nelson Semedo, who impressed throughout at the Amex, did well to stop Pedro from getting a shot on goal when one-on-one with Sa, with the Portuguese producing a brilliant last-ditch tackle, Kilman almost turned the ball into his own net.
After Jack Hinshelwood found space down the right, his dangerous cross was turned onto his own post by the skipper, with the ball cannoning behind for a corner which was headed clear.
The end-to-end contest continued until the final whistle as both sets of players looked to catch their opponents on the break, with Wolves breaking straight from the Brighton corner which saw Neto pull a good stop from Steele after the winger got a cross/shot away towards goal.
As the game wore on and both teams made changes, there began to be heavy-legs shown by the sides, but there was no let up in the amount of chances at either end, with Neto’s powerful ball across the six-yard box unable to be turned home, before Cunha spurned a chance when finding himself one-on-one with Steele – forcing the ball well wide which allowed Brighton to get bodies back.
As added time loomed, Wolves were more than happy to sit back on the edge of their own box and force Brighton to try and break them down, which Pedro almost did if not for the intervention of three or four red shirts swarming around him before he could get a shot away, with substitute Tawanda Chirewa, on for his Premier League debut, getting the vital final block in.
With Wolves unable to make their second-half opportunities count, the teams had to settle for a point a piece, extending their unbeaten Premier League runs to four matches.
Full-time | Brighton 0-0 Wolves
Brighton | Steele, Hinshelwood (Baker-Boaitey 90), Dunk, van Hecke, Estupinan (Webster 72), Gross, Gilmour, Milner (Lallana 72), Buonanotte (Lamptey 65), Welbeck (Ferguson 65), Pedro.
Unused subs | Verbruggen, Moder, Baleba, Peupion.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, Toti, Doherty, Lemina, Doyle, Sarabia (Bellegarde 70), Neto (Chirewa 88), Cunha.
Unused subs | Bentley, Mosquera, S. Bueno, H. Bueno, Hodge, Griffiths, Fraser.
Referee | Craig Pawson
