Wolves 1 (S Bueno 89) Crystal Palace 3 (Schlupp 35, Ayew 50, Agbinone 90)
Wolves were beaten on their evening in Annapolis, Maryland, as Santiago Bueno set up a grandstand finish late on, only for the Eagles to seal the win in injury time.
Jeffrey Schlupp capitalised on a poor clearance from Dan Bentley to fire into an unguarded net from distance before half-time, while quickly after it Jordan Ayew latched on to a long pass from Dean Henderson and fired between the legs of Tom King.
Wolves did have their chances, and Santiago Bueno turned home to pull one back late on after good work by Jorgen Strand Larsen, but when searching for an equaliser, Wolves were hit on the break and Asher Agbinone curled home the sealer for the Eagles late on.
Stop number two on Wolves’ tour of the United States took them to Annapolis, and they could have led after a matter of minutes. Goncalo Guedes, starting as centre forward, drifted into space down the right and squared for the onrushing Rodrigo Gomes, but unlike on Saturday, he couldn’t find the desired finish, firing at Henderson.
For Palace, they struck an effort against the post, with Daichi Kamada firing against the foot of the post, while following a ricochet inside the Old Gold box, Schlupp fired over the loose ball. The Old Gold did have the ball in the net when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s shot was parried and Lima turned home, but the flag had already been raised.
That meant when Palace found the back of the net, it opened the scoring. Bentley came flying out of his goal to deal with a Palace ball over the top, but his clearance fell straight to Schlupp, who without hesitation lifted the ball into the unguarded net from distance.
The Old Gold had been the better side until that point, and quickly got back on the front foot and they had Tommy Doyle, captain for the evening, test Henderson from the edge of the box. Then, right on the stroke of half-time, Wolves again had the ball in the net when Hugo Bueno drilled in a low cross, but as Lima tapped home at the back post, the offside flag was again raised.
Half-time | Wolves 0-1 Crystal Palace
Despite finishing the first half strongly, Wolves’ task was made all the tougher five minutes into the second half when Henderson’s long ball was plucked out of the sky impressively by Ayew, who was the wrong side of S Bueno, and he fired between the legs of half-time substitute Tom King.
Changes were drip-fed throughout second period and two changes Chiquinho and Hee Chan Hwang almost combined, with the latter unable to connect with the former’s in swinging cross. Hwang and Pablo Sarabia could have opened Wolves’ account too, but after the South Korean couldn’t get his shot away, his Spanish colleague cleared the crossbar.
Chiquinho did fire wide while aiming for the near post late on, while Hwang’s goalbound effort was turned behind from almost on the line. So when their goal finally arrived, it was deserved. Sarabia’s cross was cleverly backheeled by Larsen, allowing Bueno to turn into the net from close range.
However, Palace hit the sucker punch late on, with Agbinone curling home the third. But as is always the case during pre-season, Gary O’Neil got minutes into his players’ legs, which was the priority. All ten outfield players who started on Saturday were left out from the start, meaning across the two games, the group is now at a similar level heading into the final stop of the US tour against RB Leipzig at the Chase Stadium in Miami.
Full-time | Wolves 1-3 Crystal Palace
Wolves | Bentley (King 45), Lima (Doherty 85), Dawson (Toti 73), S Buneo, H Bueno, Doyle (Lemina 73), Cundle, Chirewa (Strand Larsen 73), R Gomes (Chiquinho 45), Bellegarde (Sarabia 63), Guedes (Hwang 63).
Unused subs | Benjamin, Ait-Nouri, Mosquera, Rawlings, Fraser.
Palace | Henderson, Clyne (Kporha 45), Richards (Ward 45), Andersen (Holding 45), Riad (Jemide 45), Mitchell (Umeh 45), Wharton (Devenny 45), Hughes (Rodney 45), Kamada (Ahamada 45), Edouard (Ayew 45), Schlupp (Mathurin 45)(Agbinone 80).
Unused subs | Johnstone, Matthews.
