Wolves 2 (Hwang 39, Toti 50) Luton 1 (Morris 80)
Hee Chan Hwang and Toti scored either side of half-time as Wolves enjoyed the winning feeling for the first time in April, beating Luton Town in the penultimate Molineux fixture of the season.
After back-to-back defeats on home soil, Wolves were more like themselves, determined not to make it a hat-trick, and after Matheus Cunha freed him down the left, Hee Chan Hwang came inside and saw his low strike deflected home.
Five minutes after the interval the Old Gold doubled their lead when Toti got on the end of a Mario Lemina cross and planted a firm header home from close range. The Hatters made a contest of it late on when Carlton Morris struck, but Wolves had done enough for the victory.
Looking to rid the memory of Wednesday night, and end a tough week on a positive note, Wolves were up against a Luton side battling for survival. Jose Sa was the first goalkeeper called into action early on and his flying saved denied Ross Barkley, while for Wolves, Hwang got in behind the Hatters’ defence, only for his low effort and headed rebound both to be kept out by Thomas Kaminski.
Chances were of a premium for much of the first half, with Cunha unable to scramble the ball home on the fall, while Joao Gomes came closer when he won the midfield battle and held off Albert Sambi Lokonga but blasted over from the edge of the box. For the visitors, Morris planted a firm header into the hands of Sa.
It was from that near escape where Wolves opened the scoring, however. Sa released the ball quickly to Cunha, who carried his side up the pitch and released Hwang, who came inside, and his low effort was deflected into the far corner. Unlike on Wednesday night, there was nothing VAR could do about this one and Wolves led 1-0.
Half-time | Wolves 1-0 Luton
Having ended the first half strongly, Wolves continued that into the second and Toti was inches away from Hwang’s early cross. Instead, it was a Mario Lemina out swinging delivery he added the second from. A short corner was worked to Lemina, and his cross was right on the money for a diving Toti to head past Kaminski.
Wolves were enjoying themselves and the impressive Boubacar Traore had a stinging drive saved, before Cunha’s shot was deflected into the air and the hands of Kaminski. The goalkeeper then made an impressive save from Nelson Semedo, who’d cut inside on his left foot and only had the goalkeeper to beat but shot at Kaminski.
However, Luton weren’t finished and when Alfie Doughty’s corner was returned to the wing-back, his cross was nodded back into Morris, and the striker swung a boot to fire beyond Sa to make it 2-1. And soon after, from another Doughty corner, Cauley Woodrow rifled an effort just wide, as Luton threatened a surprise comeback.
Luton pressed for a late equaliser and Luke Berry fired their last chance straight at Sa from the edge of the box, with the full-time whistle following seconds later. Wolves were back to winning ways.
Full-time | Wolves 2-1 Luton
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Doherty, Kilman, Toti, Ait-Nouri (H Bueno 85), Traore, Gomes, Lemina, Hwang, Cunha (Sarabia 76).
Unused subs | Bentley, Doyle, Fraser, Chirewa, Okoduwa, Barnett, Gonzalez.
Luton | Kaminski, Osho, Barkley (Adebayo 78), Morris, Chong, Mengi, Burke, Clark (Berry 66), Hashioka (Woodrow 66), Lokonga, Doughty (Onyedinma 88).
Unused subs | Shea, Krul, Mpanzu, Townsend, Johnson.
Referee | David Coote
