Gary O’Neil rues ‘desperately unlucky’ moment v Newcastle United and claims Wolves ‘edged’ match

Whilst the hosts started the game with very little of the ball, they slowly worked their way into the game and took the lead through Mario Lemina in the first-half. They could have gone two up in the second period but Jorgen Strand Larsen saw his effort hit the post, rather than ripple the net.

That would prove to be costly for Wolves when Fabian Schar equalised with a thunderous effort from outside the area. Although on first view it appeared that Schar had placed his shot to perfection, replays showed it had taken a deflection off the head of Craig Dawson, one that meant Sam Johnstone was unable to get anywhere near it before looping into the top corner.

It was a goal that completely changed the complexion of the game and a moment O’Neil described post-match as ‘desperately unlucky’. Speaking to the club’s media, O’Neil said: “The first goal we concede is desperately unlucky and summed up where the game was heading. 

Schar ended up taking shots from there, it flicks off Daws and goes in. Second goal I’m really disappointed with because we speak to the full-backs about showing wingers outside all the time, literally every day since I’ve been here.

“Harvey Barnes is allowed to come inside and it's a fantastic finish, but it should never happen against us, so I’m disappointed with that. Nels [Semedo] having to come off was a big blow because he’s really important to us. We need to make sure that he can get through more of the game than he did today.

“But all that group could do is give everything, and show what they are, and you can see big moments of quality. I have no doubts that we’re going to pick up some big results if we continue to put in performances like we did today.”

Wolves were made to rue that moment even further when Harvey Barnes sealed the win with a stunning strike just five minutes later. The defeat leaves Wolves without a win in their opening four Premier League games and keeps them in the bottom three having taken just one point from those games. O’Neil though believes his side can feel hard done by not to come away with at least a point in a game he believes his side ‘edged’: “Frustration is the right word, because it's easy to feel down after results.” O’Neil said.

“But the group gave everything there were loads of quality. I thought we probably edged it, to be honest, for large parts, and we had an issue at the start that we managed to fix, and from then on, I felt really comfortable, because we were really dangerous.

“But it's where we are at this moment. We know we're in a tough run of fixtures, and we're playing against opposition who have big quality, and it seems at this moment that we've been heavily punished for any little error.”