At full-time, yet more Wolves apathy and anger. From the stands, from the Wolves players on the pitch, from Gary O’Neil and his staff. Tommy Doyle and Jørgen Strand Larsen crouched on the turf, seemingly inconsolable.
For Ipswich, the mood was rather different, Harry Clarke grabbing the ball and volleying it into the sky to celebrate only a second win this season, Ed Sheeran applauding from the directors’ box.
With the initial three minutes of second-half stoppage time having been and gone, the Ipswich substitute Jack Taylor eluded Rayan Aït-Nouri to leap and head in unchallenged another substitute Jack Clarke’s corner.
Wolves have now conceded a league-high 20 goals from set pieces this season. The furious scenes at the end, with unused substitute Craig Dawson manhandling Aït-Nouri down the players’ tunnel, were reminiscent of a final-day relegation.
As the old adage goes, when it rains, it pours. With 71 minutes on the clock, Wolves trailed to a comical own goal, Matt Doherty the unfortunate party. Dara O’Shea, 10 yards from the Ipswich goalline, played a first-time ball forward towards Liam Delap and a few seconds later the ball was in the back of the Wolves net.
Delap proved too powerful for Nelson Semedo and drove down the right flank before clipping a cross towards Omari Hutchinson. The Ipswich winger sidestepped Sam Johnstone and unleashed an effort at goal, which flew off Doherty’s left knee. Santiago Bueno also flung himself across in a desperate attempt to block. They were off the hook – for now.
Then Conor Chaplin took aim from just inside the box. Toti Gomes headed the ball but his attempted clearance pinballed off Doherty and into the Wolves net. Gomes ended up doing a backward roll. Six old gold Wolves shirts, plus Johnstone, were left stumped inside the box. O’Neil grimaced. So did those in the stands. It was nothing compared with the feeling three minutes and six seconds into stoppage time.
Presumably the Wolves hierarchy considered the possibility of this game not going to plan. There were early chants against the chair, Jeff Shi, and the owner, Fosun, from the Sir Jack Hayward Stand and a downbeat atmosphere inevitably worsened the moment Chaplin’s strike cannoned in off Doherty. That goal provided Ipswich’s fans with the perfect platform to revel in Wolves’ misery. “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” came the chorus from the away end.
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Only Wolves are desperate for O’Neil, handed a new four-year contract in August, to work. The reality is the challenge facing his side after falling behind was a mammoth one. Wolves had not come from behind to win a match at Molineux since November 2023, when Pablo Sarabia scored a beauty and set up the winner for Mario Lemina to beat Tottenham.
This week Lemina was stripped of the captaincy, with Semedo taking the armband after Lemina’s meltdown after defeat at West Ham, in which he butted heads with Wolves’ assistant coach Shaun Derry.
A swell of supporters seemed torn between willing Wolves on to equalise and laying into the decision-makers around the place. And then Matheus Cunha levelled. The substitute Gonçalo Guedes slipped Cunha in down the left channel and the Brazilian blasted a shot past Arijanet Muric at his near post.
From that point on the home support cranked up the volume. Strand Larsen had asked them to do as much. Cunha looked for Strand Larsen at the front post and the Norway striker forced Muric into a save. Cunha, again Wolves’ go-to man, wellied an effort at Muric from 30 yards. The home team spurned chances to clinch victory with Ipswich wobbling. But then Wolves allowed them their easy winner.
