Wolves 0 Bournemouth 2: Hosts punished as Wolves spurn chances in Cherries defeat

The hosts were bright in the opening stages of the game and had a Mateus Mane goal ruled out for offside, as they took the game to the opposition.

But a poor Andre mistake handed the Cherries a chance that Junior Kroupi finished in excellent fashion, to give the visitors the lead.

Wolves had several second half chances to equalise and hit the post, but Alex Scott netted late to condemn the hosts to defeat.

Analysis

Rob Edwards made three changes to the Wolves side that lost to Manchester City last time out.

Rodrigo Gomes came in for his first start since October 26, when he suffered a groin injury and needed surgery and was joined in the team by Emmanuel Agbadou and Tolu Arokodare.

Ladislav Krejci missed out with illness, while Jackson Tchatchoua and Jhon Arias dropped to the bench.

England under-17 international midfielder Jerome Abbey made the squad for the first time, as the 16-year-old was named among the substitutes.

Wolves thought they had taken an early lead when Mane headed home from R.Gomes’ cross, but the wing-back had strayed just offside when he received Hwang Hee-chan’s pass.

R.Gomes had made a bright start to the game and whipped in a superb first time cross that Arokodare was close to reaching.

Mane tested the palms of goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic with an effort from the edge of the box, as Wolves were the better side in the opening 20 minutes but failed to make it count in front of goal.

Despite being the better side, it was the Cherries that went ahead in the 33rd minute. Andre made a big error by delaying a simple midfield pass and then giving it away, as Bournemouth played a couple neat passes on the edge of the box before Kroupi Jr lashed home a sublime strike.

Wolves endured a poor spell after going behind as Bournemouth pushed for a second. Amine Adli was played in and looked to go around Jose Sa, but the goalkeeper did well to recover and get down to make a save.

They got to half-time without conceding again and frustrated at not making their good start count.

Wolves made a competitive start to the second half and had some half chances, without properly testing the goalkeeper.

But Arokodare had a golden chance that he should have scored when Wolves broke forward and Hugo Bueno’s cross found the striker 10 yards out, but he shot straight at Petrovic again.

Wolves were screaming for a penalty when Lewis Cook fell to the floor and seemed to stop a shot with his arm, but referee Michael Oliver did not give the spot kick and VAR did not intervene.

Another big chance came when Joao Gomes’ shot was parried as far as substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen, who picked the ball up from close range but scuffed his effort wide.

Arokodare had another chance that he fired over the bar, as Wolves pushed for an equaliser.

The hosts were getting closer with every chance and were inches away when H.Bueno’s corner was headed onto the post by J.Gomes.

Bournemouth secured all three points in injury time when Rayan beat J.Gomes too easily, got to the byline and put the ball on a plate for Scott, who got the run on David Moller Wolfe, to finish from close range.

Key Moments

GOAL 33 Kroupi Jr fires the Cherries ahead

GOAL 90+1 Scott seals Bournemouth’s win

Teams

Wolves: Sa, R.Gomes (Bellegarde, 71), Mosquera, S.Bueno (Lima, 89), Agbadou, H.Bueno (Wolfe, 89), Andre (Arias, 80), J.Gomes, Mane, Hwang (Larsen, 71), Arokodare.

Subs not used: Johnstone, Doherty, Tchatchoua, Abbey.

Bournemouth: Petrovic, Smith (Diakite, 94), Senesi, Hill, Truffert, Scott, Cook, Jimenez (Toth, 85), Kroupi Jr (Christie, 68), Adli (Rayan, 68), Evanilson (Unal, 85).

Subs not used: Mandas, Milosavljevic, Rees-Dottin, Gonzalez.