Wolverhampton Wanderers made the most of their chances to secure a 2-0 win over Derby County at Molineux in the Championship this evening.
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Derby had the majority of the early chances as Johnny Russell forced a save from Tomasz Kuszczak with a long-range effort inside the opening 10 minutes, before Darren Bent narrowly missed a Craig Forsyth ball into the box.
Wolves continued to come under pressure at the back throughout the first half as Thomas Ince carved his way through the defenders before unleashing a strike, but his finish was kept out by the crossbar.
Benik Afobe came closest to giving the hosts the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Nouha Dicko crossed the ball in for him, but Lee Grant was ready to make the save for Derby.
Ince continued to cause problems for Kenny Jackett's side as he set up Jesse Lingard for a shot shortly before the break, while attempting an ambitious half-volley himself moments later, but Kuszczak saved them both.
There was a contentious call before the break when Bent appeared to be brought down by a last-man challenge on the edge of the box, with Ince going on to fire the ball in, but the referee called it back for a free kick, while giving no further punishment to Danny Batth.
Despite Derby's first-half dominance, it was Wolves who broke the deadlock just a couple of minutes into the second half when a sloppy pass from Forsyth was intercepted, setting up Dicko to squeeze the ball past Grant from a tight angle.
The woodwork came to the home side's rescue for a second time as Steve McClaren's side pushed for a quick equaliser, but Craig Bryson's low strike came straight back off the post.
The crossbar was also left rattling down the other end just a couple of minutes later as Dicko thought that he was through for a second goal following a quick counter-attack, but his effort was just a fraction too high.
Wolves did manage to double their lead with just over 20 minutes to go when Grant attempted to punch the ball clear from a cross, but the keeper got it all wrong, knocking it backwards into his own net.
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Lingard tried to get Derby back into contention when he burst into the box to fire a low shot towards the Wolves goal, but Kuszczak continued to frustrate the visitors.
Derby continued to run at the Wolverhampton goal in the final minutes as they tried to give themselves some late hope, but the hosts made sure that they had numbers back to protect their lead.
The result moves Wolves up to seventh in the table, level on points with sixth-placed Brentford, while Derby stay fifth with no win from their last six games.
Sian Cowper
