An Adama Traore rocket saw Wolverhampton Wanderers progress into the fourth round of the FA Cup, beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at Molineux.
A game in which Wolves will feel they should have put way out of Palace's reach, they failed to convert twelve of their thirteen shots that they had at the Palace goal.
Palace goalkeeper, Jack Butland made some crucial saves, the pick of the bunch being an impressive reflex stop following an attempt from Wolves central midfielder, Leander Dendoncker.
-
Fabio Silva struggles
It was always going to be a tall order for 18-year-old Fabio Silva to take over from last-seasons star man Raul Jimenez and tonight this showed.
The 18-year-old signed with the club in the summer for a £35.6 million price-tag and the pressure was instantly applied.
-
Replacing Jimenez proving difficult
Silva struggles to have the impact Jimenez does. One of the main problems the Portuguese youngster has is his physical presence.
The youngster does not intimidate opposition defenders and does not provide the aerial threat that is needed for the wingers to rely on the crosses that they would rely on if Jimenez was the front-man.
Palace's Formation Gave the Wingers a lot of Freedom.
Palace set out from the beginning with a noticeably narrow layout, while Wolves utilised Traore and Pedro Neto on the wings.
Due to the contrasting set-ups, Traore and Neto found themselves in acres of space during prolonged periods of the game.
Adama's goal came from the wings as he found himself in space on the wing, cut inside and hit a rocket into the top corner.
This was a recurring theme during the course of the match-up, as Neto and Traore would continue to threaten the Palace goal.
One of the chances resulted in a brilliant save from Butland as Adama, again found himself in space, assisting Dendoncker who forced the save from the Palace 'keeper.
The hosts threatened immensely from the wings during the course of the game and looked likely to score from every attack.