JAMES WARD-PROWSE produced a very good goal directly from a corner to finish off a West Ham counter-attack.
And that 83rd-minute golf swing birthday party may never have sat so well with boss David Moyes.
The grumpy helper seemed to be in a position to ride on his back once back, as they have this season.
He may have hardly disputed such a reaction, at least at the end of a first half in which his Hammers team was enraged.
And in the end, his men left Molineux with all three problems after Max Kilman returned home nine minutes later, the attempt being disallowed due to a debatable offside decision against Tawanda Chirewa.
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil was furious during the decision after referee Tony Harrington blocked the goal after consulting the television monitor next to the pitch.
But for Moyes, it’s huge.
Behind the main stand, Steve Cooper, unsquared after being looted at Nottingham Forest just before Christmas.
His presence was probably quite unimpeachable.
But with the West Ham manager’s future still in doubt and his current contract expiring until the end of the season, just being there would have added even more pressure on the Scot if his players hadn’t come out of nowhere to win this.
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In fact, Pablo Sarabia’s first penalty was Wolves’ least deserved after taking the entire match.
This came after Wolves took the Hammers by the throat, with Sarabia and Tommy Doyle forcing Lukasz Fabianski into frantic action.
Meanwhile, Rayan Ait-Nouri made a surprising display that suggested he had been a very dangerous hidden striker on the right side.
He was given a flexible role to attack at will and Moyes’ players simply couldn’t deal with it.
Midway through the first half, the 22-year-old embarked on a wild 50-metre run and a desperate challenge in the Kurt Zouma area prevented him from completing it brilliantly.
Once again, Ait-Nouri made his way into the penalty area and this time Emerson’s challenge was just as desperate but also illegal.
It took VAR Tim Robinson 3 minutes to verify that referee Harrington’s penalty resolution was correct, but Sarabia remained focused on converting Fabianski’s left post.
Moyes had to act after that first half and Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek were eliminated in favour of Michail Antonio and Ben Johnson in an attempt to start something resembling a fire.
Not that things got any easier, Jarrod Bowen limped ten minutes after the restart, very painful.
What looked like a hip injury doesn’t bode well for the rest of the game as it will now be the main fear heading into Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Xabi Alonso’s all-powerful Bayer Leverkusen.
Antonio’s arrival, however, brought much-needed dynamism as the 34-year-old began to take on a defense that was normally cruise control.
In the 63rd minute, Emerson appeared to have cleared his earlier penalty on Ait-Nouri.
But his header beat Jose Sa, smashed past Semedo to win the ball back and the shot was disallowed.
However, West Ham, despite everything, had their tails high and ten minutes later they were level, with a handball from Kilman generating a lifeline from Lucas Paquetá.
Then came Ward-Prowse’s outrageous winner, a corner that slid upwards in the swirling wind before leaving goalkeeper Jose Sa wishing the free-kick specialist had saved his effort.
Still, Kilman thought he had claimed a deserved percentage of the spoils, but this time VAR gave Moyes a break, as irritating as it was to his counterpart.
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