Wolves 1-0 Aston Villa: Joe Mason hits winner as home side take derby honours

Joe Mason’s first-half goal secured Wolves a maiden home win over Midlands rivals Aston Villa in almost four decades.

Mason slotted home from close range after Villa keeper Sam Johnstone could only parry Nouha Dicko’s cross invitingly into the striker’s path.

Despite a lacklustre display in the opening period from the visitors, Villa will be kicking themselves after Ross McCormack headed over when it looked easier to score.

Wolves began the game brightly and were asking all of the early questions, forcing Tommy Elphick to make several crucial blocks and interceptions.

However, the breakthrough soon arrived when Wolves got their noses in front with a quarter of an hour on the clock.

Wander Helder Costa cleverly set Dicko through on the right, whose pull back into the box was pushed away by Johnstone.

But the rebound fell kindly to Mason, who swept in a low shot from 10 yards to grab what proved to be the winner.

Parity should have been restored 12 minutes later. Jordan Amavi made a great interception and ran half the length of the pitch, beating a couple of Wolves defenders before whipping in a cross for McCormack.

The Scottish forward looked certain to score but instead headed over and Villa’s best chance in the game went begging.

Alan Hutton was perfectly placed to head the danger away with Danny Batth poised to pounce, while James Chester hacked the danger clear after Mason had rounded Johnstone.

At the other end Conor Coady got back to deal comfortably with Albert Adomah’s attempted lob of Carl Ikeme and ensure Wolves went in ahead at the break.

They almost doubled their advantage within seconds of the restart, Chester cheaply giving the ball away to set up an attack which ended with Dicko shooting agonisingly over.

Mile Jedinak and Ivan Cavaliero both saw half-hearted penalty appeals snubbed by the officials, rightly as the replays showed.

Dicko should have made it 2-0 after being put through by Costa, drilling his effort straight at Johnstone when it might have been better to square to his team-mate who created the opportunity.

Villa enjoyed more of the ball as the game wore on, although they failed to seriously trouble Ikeme at any point.

They can feel aggrieved not to have been awarded an 83rd minute spot-kick after McCormack appeared to be tugged back in the box by Batth.

Wolves substitutes Bright Enobakhare and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson combined well in the final minute, Enobakhare twisting and turning before shooting inches wide.

It didn’t matter though as Wolves inflicted a first Molineux defeat on Villa since a 3-1 success way back in May 1978.

"It was fantastic but we’ve been playing like that for a number of weeks now without probably getting the results we deserve. I thought we were outstanding. Right from the off we looked a threat," Wolves manager Paul Lambert said.

"We are a young, vibrant, energetic team pressing the game really well. Everything about us is really good at the minute. We’ve got too big a support to try and sit back and wait for things to happen.

Over the last six or seven weeks we’ve been very good. The confidence from everybody is flowing at the minute and I think that is important.

Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce said: "I don’t think we deserved anything really if I’m being brutally honest. There wasn’t much in it I have to say. But we’ve got to show a little bit more quality, certainly going forward in areas where we seemed a little bit short if that is the right word. It seems to be our Achilles heel at the moment but we’ve not created much again.

"It is one thing we have to work on and get better at but we need to improve all over the pitch if I’m being honest because we’ve just huffed and puffed all night and not produced anything of any worthwhile quality."