Rayan Aït-Nouri sets Wolves on their way but injuries mar win over Fulham

Gary O’Neil rated Wolves’ 2-1 victory over Fulham as his favourite of the season given the adversity his side overcame. With several key players already out, they were forced into two first-half changes because of injuries to Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Pedro Neto, but a second-half strike from Rayan Aït-Nouri and a Tom Cairney own goal put Wolves in control before Alex Iwobi pulled one back with virtually the last kick of the game.

“Unbelievable win,” said a delighted O’Neil, whose side are up to eighth. “My favourite I think in terms of what we’ve had to deal with, the position we were in before the game, the position we found ourselves in 20-odd minutes into the game. To find a way to beat a Fulham team that are in a really good moment – when I got their team-sheet I realised how strong they are depth-wise, unbelievable bench they had available to them.

“Obviously we’re in a different moment. We can be as strong as that but at this moment we’re not. Then mentally for the players to lose the only attacking players we have left and still be able to find a way to respond I thought was an unbelievable win.

“I’m sure they are, but the supporters should be unbelievably proud of the team that they just saw. If I’d have grown up being a Wolves fan and you asked me what I wanted my team to look like, it would have been that.”

The considerable negative was the two injuries, with Bellegarde hurting his left knee in the opening minutes and Neto then pulling up just before half-time holding his left leg.

Pedro Neto was forced off with an apparent recurrence of a hamstring problem. Photograph: Jack Thomas/Wolves/Getty Images

The Portuguese winger, who missed two months with a right hamstring injury, went off at half-time against Newcastle last week because of tightness in the same thigh, leaving O’Neil to rue his team selection. “He had a really good week,” said the manager. “He had a scan that was completely clear, no muscle damage at all, he felt really good yesterday in training, felt good again today.

“That lands on me whether the decision to play him today was right. I’m just devastated for Pedro and how hard he’s worked to get back. We’re hopeful. Medical don’t think it’s anything like his first one, but it’ll be a scan and we’ll go from there.

“If I had the team-sheet back again now, of course I’m not putting Pedro Neto’s name on it.”

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Football Daily

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?Show

Thank you for your feedback.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Fulham boss Marco Silva, who saw Harry Wilson miss a one-on-one and Tosin Adarabioyo hit the bar in the first half. “We had a chance to come to half-time leading,” said Silva. “We didn’t start really well but after the first chance we created, from that moment we built the momentum and we started to be on the front foot.

“But the reality is the game is 95 minutes and the way we started the second half, we played too slow, losing some balls in dangerous areas that we cannot lose. And from that moment we are punished.”