Wolves earned their first win in three weeks as they came from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 at Molineux. After Lewis Dunk gave Brighton the lead from a corner after 13 minutes, the Seagulls’ captain then swung the game in Wolves’ favour when he was sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity early in the second half. Substitute Adama Traore drew Wolves level with a quarter of an hour left, before Morgan Gibbs-White’s first league goal for the club earned Nuno’s side three points in the last minute of normal time.
Rui Patricio
Had very little to do besides picking the ball out of his net and didn’t face a single attempt of any kind in the second half. Could have relieved Wolves of some first half set-piece pressure by coming off his line, but that just isn’t his style. 6/10.
Ki-Jana Hoever
Not his finest performance in a Wolves shirt. Coped well enough defensively but his attacking output was almost always ineffective. His crosses from open play or the simply horrendous short corners always either flew into the empty stand or hit the first man. His time will come. 5/10.
Conor Coady
Did well. Failed to keep out Dunk’s header in front of the far post but was otherwise pretty much unchallenged by Welbeck or Maupay, but did get a yellow card for clumsily taking down Zeqiri off the pitch. His distribution was solid. 6/10.
Max Kilman
Enjoyed his first league start in three months and two days and did well. Wolves’ defence looked hugely improved when compared to their last outing at Molineux against Burnley, and Kilman was a big part of that. Was relatively untroubled except for set-pieces, which he and Wolves finally got a grip of after Dunk’s dismissal. 7/10.
Rayan Ait-Nouri
A second straight impressive performance for Ait-Nouri, who has done his chances of a permanent move to Molineux no harm. Was constantly up and down the left-hand side and had no problem with Jahanbakhsh and later Moder. 7/10.
Ruben Neves
Not his best performance. Wasn’t able to dictate play in the way he’d have liked following Dunk’s goal, with Wolves being hugely ineffective while the Seagulls were a goal up in the first half. Not a surprise to see him withdrawn as Nuno looked to attack following Dunk’s red card. 5/10.
Joao Moutinho
Clearly wasn’t at full fitness following his two-game absence. Was run ragged by Brighton prior to the dismissal, while his insistence to play the ball short to Hoever at corners was questionable to say the least. Nevertheless, Moutinho should have had an assist after his through ball was woefully mis-controlled by Jose at 0-1. 5/10.
Morgan Gibbs-White
His best game in a Wolves shirt by far. Was given just his second league start since returning from Swansea in January and was clearly determined to make an impression. The 21-year-old was popping up here, there and everywhere trying to win the ball back and deservedly picked up his first league goal for Wolves at a crucial time. Thankfully, that meant we can gloss over his shocking open goal miss just five minutes earlier. 8/10.
Vitinha
Wasn’t as influential as he was in the Black Country derby on Monday, but still offered Wolves a link from midfield to attack that they lacked so badly in February and March. Wolves’ gameplan seemed to go through Gibbs-White this time rather than Vitinha, as Nuno tries to see what all his young players can do ahead of a big summer. Was still surprising to see him withdrawn for Dendoncker after Traore’s equaliser. 6/10.
Daniel Podence
Hasn’t had a good few weeks, and that continued against Brighton. Minus one good turn from a short corner early on Podence was completely ineffective again. He seemed more intent on trying to argue with Ben White than provide a goal or assist, which is becoming a running theme. Withdrawn for Willian Jose midway through the second half. 5/10
Fabio Silva
Had another good game. Looked threatening in the second half, broke free down Brighton’s left-hand side on a couple of occasions and provided a brilliant assist in a tight space for Traore’s equaliser. After some struggles in the winter months, Silva is beginning to show glimpses of why Wolves spent £35m on him. 7/10.
Adama Traore
Played just 30 minutes, but was Wolves’ man of the match. Everything went through Traore and he was asked to almost single-handedly break down a stubborn Brighton side, which he did so with ease. His equaliser was built up, and taken, superbly, while he was a constant threat as Wolves pushed for a winner. With rumours of contract talks ongoing, Jeff Shi needs to present Traore with a blank piece of paper and let him write whatever numbers he wants on it. He is crucial to this team. 9/10.
Willian Jose
Was fairly anonymous minus his poor touch when put through by Moutinho. Wolves would be mad to pay £20m for his services in the summer. 5/10.
Leander Dendoncker
Did nothing of note as Wolves pushed for a winner and then looked to hold onto their three points. N/A.
James Wynn is part of the Talking Wolves editorial team – you can follow him on Twitter here.