Wolves suffered a damaging defeat at the hands of Leeds United yesterday – but one small positive was that Matheus Cunha finally scored his first goal for the club.
Wolves lost 4-2 at Molineux, in a game that was incident-filled.
Leeds went 3-0 up, but Wolves pulled a couple of goals back through Jonny and then Cunha to set up a tense finish.
But Jonny then got sent off for a poor challenge on Luke Ayling.
Leeds then made sure of the points in injury-time, with Rodrigo scoring just seconds after a clear shirt pull on Adama Traore.
Julen Lopetegui was incensed throughout the game. It was a seriously poor performance by referee Michael Salisbury.
But in the end, Wolves just weren’t good enough.
A whole host of chances were spurned, and Wolves were also poor defensively.
Arguably, yesterday did show one thing: Cunha must now be starting every game for Wolves.
Lopetegui threw the Brazilian on with around half an hour to go, replacing Daniel Podence.
And he did make a really good impact for Wanderers. He operated just behind Raul Jimenez and constantly showed for the ball.
He sprayed the ball out wide a number of times to get Wolves into promising positions.
And then he popped up to score his goal.
There was a degree of fortune about it in that it was deflected. But Cunha deserved that slice of luck.
Certainly, Wolves looked a lot more productive and threatening after he came on.
Wolves are a better side when Matheus Cunha plays, as star scores his first goal against Leeds
He may not be prolific, but Wolves look a better side when Cunha plays, and in his proper position.
The 23-year-old’s impact against Leeds was really good.
He’ll hopefully take great confidence from finally opening his account.
Lopetegui has surely now got to get him playing in a partnership with Raul Jimenez.
Unleashing the two of them now and allowing them to build an on-field relationship could be absolutely huge for Wolves survival hopes.