Wolves have had a difficult start to pre-season, which has seen them not able to come out on top in any of the friendlies they’ve played so far.
Lens, however, have gone through their pre-season campaign undefeated after two draws and now two wins after they saw victory against Wolves under the lights at the Pallet-Track Stadium.
Wolves | Sa (Bentley 45), Hoever (R Gomes 45), Doherty, Agbadou (S Bueno 60), Toti, H Bueno (Lima 60), Andre (Kalajdzic 82), J Gomes (Munetsi 60), Lopez (Guedes 60), Bellegarde (Chirewa 60), Strand Larsen (Hwang 60).
Unused subs | Johnstone, Mane.
Lens | Gurtner, Aguilar, Baidoo, Sotoca, Satriano, Udol, Sarr, Thomasson, Guilavogui, Sylla, Bermont.
Subs | Machado, Bulatovic, Ojediran, Diouf, Zaroury, Said, Sagnan, Agbonifo, Diallo, Antonio, Pouilly, Ganiou, Fofana, Diliwidi, Delplace, Jourdren.
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Story of the match
Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes, but when the game finally got under way it was Wolves that looked lively from minute one.
There was roughly 20 minutes where Wolves seemed to put on an impressive performance, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde stepped to take a free-kick, which caused some issues for Lens when Emmanuel Agbadou and Toti Gomes attacked it, unfortunately Lens defended it really well.
Wolves then produced a nice attacking promise when Fer Lopez backheeled the ball to Jorgen Strand Larsen, unfortunately for Wolves again, the shot was fired over the bar.
Joao Gomes looked to get himself in some quite tense moments with Lens midfielder Adrien Thomasson with the latter being shown a yellow card after he started to fly into tackles as well as making some tactical fouls as Wolves progressed on the transition.
Not long after, Lens player Morgan Guilavogui found himself also being shown a yellow card after he committed a foul on Fer Lopez.
The teams went into the break at half time 0-0.
Not long after starting the second half, it was Lens that took the lead in the 61st minute after Wesley Saïd got on the end of a perfect cross, which got the better of Dan Bentley.
Only eight minutes later, Lens improved the scoreline to their benefit to make it 2-0 when Deiver Machado shot with power from 20 yards out with his left foot, completely beating Bentely again.
Wolves hunted for a goal, but Lens had got into a rhyme of play and did not let Wolves play with most of the second half being played in the Wolves half.
In the 81st minute, it was Gonçalo Guedes managed to pull one back after he picked the ball up and slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving Wolves just a glimmer of hope.
Only two minutes later, Lens extended their lead and put their stamp on the game after a counterattack when Andy Diouf set up Saïd, who raced down the right-hand side and played Machado, who scored with his left foot.
No time was added on to the end of the 90, Wolves were beaten 3-1, another loss on their pre-season run.
The defeat to Lens would have Wolves fans worried about squad depth, arguably more than they are already, after all three goals came in the second half after substitutes.
Wolves will be in action again on Sunday 3rd August, 2025 as they go abroad once again to face Girona.
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Player of Match
Deiver Machado - RC Lens
With RC Lens coming out on top with their 3-1 victory over Wolves, the game saw Deiver Machado grab two of the three goals for Lens.
Machado last season scored just the one goal and grabbed four assists from 27 games, but this time out he put his stamp on the game guiding Lens to their second pre-season victory.
His efforts throughout the game were not unnoticed as he guided Lens to fantastic pre-season they're having so far.
