Fulham fought hard but left Molineux empty handed on Sunday afternoon.
Pedro Neto’s goal was the sole difference between two evenly matched sides, with Aboubakar Kamara having our best chance to go level late on.
Scott Parker named a trio of changes from Monday evening’s Aston Villa game. Maxime Le Marchand and Ola Aina came in, as well as a Premier League debut for Antonee Robinson in a new-look backline.
After four minutes had gone Wolves mustered the first threat of the contest. Romain Saiss delivered to the back post where Raul Jiménez was lurking, but Tim Ream did well to cut out the danger from the striker’s header back in.
Just over a minute later and Fulham brought some danger of their own. Robinson was in an unusually attacking position and opted to go all the way himself. After bursting beyond a Wolves defender he took a powerful shot, but it was straight at Rui Patricio who gathered.
After Robinson was tripped on the left touchline, Fulham had a freekick. Joe Bryan lashed in a cross which was difficult to deal with but scrambled clear in the end before a Fulham boot could get to it.
Wolves followed with a decent spell of possession camped in Fulham’s half, but couldn’t break down a stubborn white wall. Alphonse Areola did have a corner to deal with, but it was catching practice for the big Frenchman who came out assertively.
After 27 minutes Areola had more of a challenge to deal with as the Wolves pressure continued to build. The ball was lost cheaply on the edge of the Fulham box allowing Neto to break and shoot. The Fulham number one dived smartly to his left but parried only as far as Nelson Semedo who rushed in, before Areola smothered brilliantly to keep it goalless.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were having the better of it now and had another chance after 38 minutes. Another Neto corner found Jiménez at the front post who calmly flicked it on, but no one in orange was anywhere near and it was a let-off for Fulham.
Towards the end of the first half Parker’s side started to test Wolves further, leading to a couple of opportunities for the main-man Aleksandar Mitrović. First, Cavaleiro’s cross from the left glided narrowly past the Serbian’s head, before his touch let him down from another box-bound ball.
The good work continued as the second half commenced with another Fulham chance. Robinson was provider after Aina had switched the play allowing a Mitro shot on the spin, but the angle was against him and it went well wide.
Wolves threw back after nice linkup between Leander Dendoncker and Semedo down the right allowed Ruben Neves a shooting opportunity. However, his swirling shot was watched all the way by Areola as it soared past his left post.
A quick Wolves counter-attack was next. A long lumped ball allowed Jiménez to break free from Le Marchand and get another effort on goal, which Areola stood up to bravely to keep out.
The pressure did eventually pay off for the hosts, and in the 56th minute they were in front. Dendoncker and Jiménez had their shots blocked but it couldn’t be cleared before Neto sweeped in and arrowed home to the bottom left corner from the edge of the area.
In the 65th minute there was a double switch as Ademola Lookman and Kamara replaced Ivan Cavaleiro and Joe Bryan as Parker searched for more of an immediate threat from his team.
Jiménez was proving a real handful with a barrage of attempts in the contest. The latest punt at goal was blocked well by Ream as Wolves searched for a second.
It really should’ve been 1-1 after 73 minutes after a classic break involving the two substitutes. Lookman darted out from his own half and played a lovely cross-field ball to Mitrović on the right. He unselfishly squared it to Kamara 12 yards out, but his shot was straight at Patricio.
With seven minutes left on the clock there was another chance for another substitute, as Neeskens Kebano swapped with Bobby De Cordova-Reid moments prior. Lookman was the bright spark again as his forward ball picked out Kebano, but his touch took him wide and as a result his shot was shy of the mark.
Kebano had another golden chance to attain a deserved point with 60 seconds remaining. Mitrović layed it off invitingly down the middle but Kebano’s left footed blast was narrowly over.
Fulham will no doubt take encouragement in their best performance of the season so far, but ultimately fell to another loss to take us into the international break.