Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen scored the only goal of the game as they beat visitors West Ham United 1-0 on Tuesday to make it two wins in a row and put some more daylight between them and the Premier League relegation places.
The win leaves Wolves in 17th spot on 29 points, 12 ahead of Ipswich Town in 18th and 19th-placed Leicester City, who are both in action on Wednesday against Bournemouth and Manchester City respectively. West Ham are 16th on 34 points.
The visitors almost took an early lead when Jarrod Bowen made his way down the right before putting in a low cross in the 13th minute, but the ball went just behind striker Evan Ferguson and he couldn’t get a clean shot away.
Wolves defender Toti Gomes also went close to breaking the deadlock three minutes later as he met a near-post free kick with a header that flashed towards goal and forced a great save from Alphonse Areola.
Strand Larsen finally broke the deadlock in the 21st minute, picking up the ball on the edge of the box and drilling a deflected effort past Areola for his 10th goal of the season, and six minutes later Marshall Munetsi should have made it two, but his shot came crashing back off the crossbar.
Hammers manager Graham Potter sent on striker Niclas Fuellkrug after the break, and though he gave a much-needed focal point to the visitors’ attack, the game descended into a bad-tempered affair punctuated by pushing, shoving and arguing for much of the second half.
The Hammers went on to dominate but they failed to create good goal-scoring chances, and the closest they came to an equaliser were a header off the crossbar by Fuellkrug and a late shot that Tomas Soucek fired just wide.
Strand Larsen, who had another good effort fly just wide in the second half, said he was delighted to reach double figures for the season, despite needing the help of a deflection to get on the scoresheet.
“I don’t care, the ball went in. It doesn’t matter how. I’m happy anyway,” he told Sky Sports.
“10 is always the goal for a striker, and we have eight games to go. People have been doubting me a bit so I think it’s nice to show them. Today I was a bit lucky, but that’s how it is,” he added.
