Wolves 1-0 Nottingham Forest: Jose Sa saves Brennan Johnson's penalty after Ruben Neves' spot-kick earns win

Jose Sa saved Brennan Johnson’s penalty to earn Wolves a 1-0 home win over Nottingham Forest after Ruben Neves scored from the spot to lift them out of the relegation zone.

Managerless Wolves were awarded a penalty in the 55th minute after a lengthy VAR review saw referee Thomas Bramall point to the spot for Harry Toffolo's handball from Adama Traore's shot.

Neves then stepped up to score Wolves' fourth goal of the Premier League campaign and their first in a second half this season.

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The away side were then given the chance to equalise 20 minutes later when another VAR review saw referee Bramall penalise Matheus Nunes for pulling back Ryan Yates at a corner.

But goalkeeper Sa, who has been playing with a broken wrist since the second game of the season, stood firm to deny Johnson and give Wolves interim boss Steve Davis his first win in charge that moves them two points above the bottom three.

Forest meanwhile sit bottom of the table and are without a league win since mid-August.

A tale of two penalties

Wolves, who are still looking for a new boss after sacking Bruno Lage earlier this month, came closest in the first half as Max Kilman's header hit the post from Traore's cross.

But Wolves ended the first 45 minutes without a shot on target, while Forest's best chance saw Scott McKenna head Morgan Gibbs-White's corner over in the 10th minute.

The home side continued their dominance early in the second half and were rewarded for it when Traore cut in from the right and his shot deflected off Toffolo's arm, which prompted VAR official Lee Mason to send the referee to the monitor.

After several replays Bramall awarded the penalty, which Neves converted powerfully to end Wolves' run of 370 minutes without a goal in the Premier League.

VAR then intervened in Forest's favour in the 75th minute as Bramall was again sent to the monitor where he adjudged Nunes to have fouled Yates.

But Sa battled through his wrist injury to dive to his left and save Johnson's spot-kick to earn just a second league win of the season for Wolves.

Davis: Win can kick-start our season

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Wolves interim boss Steve Davis: "Delighted with the performance and delighted with the reaction and everything we did today.

"We had a plan and the way we executed it was spot on. They worked hard, we broke the lines, we got in the box and we made more opportunities.

"We needed to win that game just to try to kick-start the season for us.

"I spoke to [Wolves chairman] Jeff (Shi) after the game about the game and he congratulated myself and [Wolves U21 head coach] James (Collins) on the performance and the result.

"As far as we're concerned we'll be in tomorrow to prepare the team for the trip to Palace on Tuesday, so as far as I know we'll be taking that game as well."

Cooper: The less said about the ref the better

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Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper: "We've not looked after the ball well enough in the first half. We didn't show enough bravery and technique and didn't really give ourselves a chance.

"I haven't seen the penalty back but the less said about the referee's performance today the better.

"I'm pretty sure it would've been a different decision if it was at the other end.

"But we'll always look at ourselves first and first half I don't think we did well enough with the ball."

Man of the match: Ruben Neves

The Wolves skipper returned to the starting line-up after being suspended for last week's defeat at Chelsea and showed why they missed him so much at Stamford Bridge.

His passing and influence in the middle of the park against Forest gave Wolves control of the midfield and the Portugal international then capped off a solid performance with the winning goal from the penalty spot.

Fantasy Premier League stats

Opta stats: Johnson first Forest player to miss PL penalty since Pearce

• Brennan Johnson became the first Nottingham Forest player to fail to score a penalty in the Premier League since Stuart Pearce versus Coventry City in December 1994.
• Wolves' goalkeeper Jose Sa has saved each of the last two penalties he's faced in the Premier League, after conceding nine of the 10 previous spot kicks he faced in the Premier League (one hit the post).
• Steve Cooper has won just five points from his first 10 matches as a manager in the Premier League, the 12th manager to earn five points or fewer after his first 10 games and the first since Jan Siewert in April 2019.
• Nottingham Forest haven't won any of their last 40 Premier League games when they've conceded first, losing 32 times in the process (D8) - including losing all five games this season when conceding first.
• Nottingham Forest have conceded 23 goals in their first 10 top-flight games in a season for only the second time in their history, also shipping 23 at this stage in 1905-06.

What's next?

Wolves are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace, with kick-off at 8.15pm.

Nottingham Forest are also on the road in their next game - Steve Cooper's side will head to the Amex to take on Brighton on Tuesday, with kick-off at 7.30pm.

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