Wolves strengthened their hold on top spot with a 2-0 victory over Barnsley at Molineux.
Hassell own goal and Foley strike secure victory
Wolves strengthened their hold on top spot with a 2-0 victory over Barnsley at Molineux.
Barnsley, without a win in their previous three Championship games and without a victory at Wolves since 1991, were no match for Mick McCarthy's side.
Wolves took the lead through a Bobby Hassell own goal after 19 minutes and then secured the points when Kevin Foley struck four minutes from time.
As expected, the hosts started on the front foot and Foley stung the hands of Heinz Muller with a shot from the edge of the area.
Barnsley were caught on the counter attack in the 19th minute as a swift move created the opening goal.
Following good build-up play from David Edwards and Foley, a dangerous cross was missed by Muller and the hapless Hassell turned the ball into his own net.
Problems
It was almost 2-0 moments later as Foley, who was causing the Tykes all sorts of problems down the right flank, drilled a brilliant shot just wide of the post from 20 yards.
More intense pressure from the home side resulted in another goalscoring chance for Andy Keogh, who should have done better with a close-range header following good play from Foley.
Barnsley were dealt another blow just before half-time as Brazilian centre-back Dennis Souza was forced off through injury.
The second half began at a much slower pace with Wolves happy to sit on their slender lead. This encouraged the Tykes to take a stranglehold of proceedings but despite some nice interplay in the middle of the park, they found it hard to penetrate the home defence.
They did go close in the 65th minute, though, as Jamie Cureton found himself with space in the area. But the on-loan striker sent his header over the bar when he should have hit the target.
Substitute Maceo Rigters had a great chance to draw the visitors level but he missed the target with a far-post header, before Foley put the game to bed five minutes from time with a shot from just inside the area after good work from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
