Fulham were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with already-relegated Wolves to all but end any feint hope of finishing inside the European spots.
Marco Silva’s side have been battling with a host of other clubs in a push to qualify for European competition next year, but that bid has hit the buffers in recent weeks, only able to collect five points from their last five outings.
Broadly, it’s been another positive campaign under Silva, but he will be bitterly disappointed with the way his side have faded towards the backend, now 12th in the table and surely unable to make up the goal difference deficit needed to have a chance of finishing eighth – currently occupied by Brentford.
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Wolves forward Mateus Mane unleashes a rocket to open the scoring
Some poor finishing ultimately punished the visitors, wasting plenty of chances to ease ahead against the league’s second-most porous defence.
Alex Iwobi and Sander Berge were guilty of spurning the two best; Iwobi at least drew a good save from Jose Sa but Berge’s free header from a corner was nodded inexplicably off target.
Mateus Mane then struck a superb opener from nowhere to spare Wolves the ignominy of failing to score in a game for the 20th time this term. Adam Armstrong also hit the woodwork in the second half, with the hosts seizing all the initiative and looking far more like the side with something left to play for.
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Fulham’s Antonee Robinson scores a penalty to level the match
In total they missed three big chances, which all fell in the final 10 minutes as Fulham chased an improbable winner, their labouring efforts all in vain.
After scoring a brilliant goal to break the deadlock, it was Mane’s mistake that cost Wolves the chance of a rare victory, as he caught Timothy Castagne in the box and Antonee Robinson rolled home a calm penalty – his first in the Premier League.
VAR had to intervene to award the spot-kick despite on-field referee Thomas Kirk being perfectly positioned to spot the foul. He called the incident a “careless challenge” when announcing the decision to the crowd inside Molineux, but was not prepared to act before he was sent to the pitchside monitor.
Tim Sherwood called it a “nailed-on penalty” on Soccer Special, adding “the referee was looking right at it.”
