Dave Edwards: Imperative that Wolves got back to winning ways

A bit of a scheduling nightmare meant that Wolves were playing their third away game on the bounce.

More importantly, they did not want to go a third game without a win, after the West Ham defeat and then the draw against Birmingham City last time out.

It was imperative that Wolves got back to winning ways. If you want to compete at the very top end of the Championship, you can’t have a run of games where you don’t win in three.

So it was important. It doesn’t matter how you do it, by hook or crook you’ve got to get a result over the line, and that’s exactly what Wolves did with a really gritty performance.

We got to see the other side of what Cesar Peixoto’s team are capable of. Not just the technically free-flowing football, we had to see a little bit more resilience and just trying to find a way to win the game.

In the first half, I thought Wolves were the better team and they had the better moments. Marshall Munetsi had a big chance, arrived in the box, but was not able to get his shot either side of the goalkeeper.

Sheffield United weren’t really offering too much going the other way, but the second half it did change, after a penalty decision, which should’ve been a penalty for Wolves.

It was a definite handball, but it didn’t get given. We’ve had some luck in other games though. You look at the Blackburn penalty decision and even Ladislav Krejci could’ve quite easily got two yellow cards against Sheffield United.

So it all evens itself out, but after that handball incident, it felt like the game completely flipped and Sheffield United really came into it.

They looked like the better team, they looked like the team that was most likely to score, especially on the transition when the ball was turned over.

Like has happened in the past, Wolves looked quite vulnerable, they were getting dragged out of their positions and there was a little bit of panic.

Jose Sa had a few moments and the defenders had a few moments where they weren’t convincing, but fortunately Sheffield United were a little bit wasteful with their final ball.

Wolves were able to keep it at 0-0 and it did look like it was going to finish in a draw, but the subs made a huge difference for Wolves.

Peixoto has the luxury of bringing on Jordan James, Kieran Trippier, Raul Jimenez and Tommy Doyle. When that quality came on, it just settled Wolves down a little bit and they started to get a foothold back in the game.

I still didn’t really see the goal coming, but it was well-worked. The bravery from Andre to hit that diagonal pass to Trippier when he could’ve kept it moving sideways, but he wanted to play progressively.

It was a terrific ball and Trippier finds a good cross into the box. Doyle maybe should’ve done better with his finish, but Jimenez was in the right place at the right time.

An out-and-out goal scorer and right in front of the away fans. It was a really nice moment for Raul and the Wolves supporters.

There was no way back into the game for Sheffield United at that point, but it was a massive three points.

If you’re going to get promoted from the Championship then there are going to be games like that, which are on a knife edge, and you have to come out on top.