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Wolverhampton Wanderers vs West Ham United. Premier League.

3:00pm, Saturday 6th April 2024.

MolineuxAttendance31,504.

West Ham United 2

L Paqueta (72nd minute pen)
J Ward-Prowse (84th minute)

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Wolves 1-2 West Ham: VAR denies hosts late equaliser as James Ward-Prowse's direct corner goal earns West Ham win

Report and free match highlights as Wolves went ahead through Pablo Sarabia's penalty; West Ham equalised with Lucas Paqueta's penalty; James Ward-Prowse's netted the winner from a direct corner; Max Kilman's late header ruled out in controversial circumstances

Charlotte Marsh

Senior football journalist

Sunday 7 April 2024 07:15, UK

Wolves were controversially denied a late equaliser in a 2-1 defeat to West Ham, who secured the win thanks to an incredible James Ward-Prowse goal direct from a corner.

Max Kilman nodded home Wolves' leveller in the 99th minute, only for VAR to rule out the goal. Tawanda Chirewa was deemed to in an offside position and blocking Lukasz Fabianski from making the save, therefore interfering with play.

It led to a melee around referee Tony Harrington and his officials at full-time, with a number of yellow cards shown to Wolves' player and staff.

"I can't think of an explanation to be honest. One of the worst decisions I've ever witnessed," Gary O'Neil told Sky Sports after the game.

"It's a terrible decision because the only way he can be impacting the goalkeeper is if he impacts how he can move, which he isn't. And if he impacts his vision, which he isn't, because if you look at the side-on view, Fabianski can clearly see the ball over Tawanda's head."

It was a match that had epitomised the phrase 'a game of two halves', with Wolves dominating the first period. They deservedly went ahead as Pablo Sarabia scored (33) from the spot after Emerson's foul on Rayan Ait Nouri.

How VAR has haunted Wolves this season...

August - Wolves were wrongly denied a stoppage-time penalty on the opening weekend of the season in their defeat at Man Utd
September - Luton were awarded a controversial penalty as Wolves were denied victory in a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road
October - Newcastle were wrongly awarded a penalty in the 2-2 draw at Molineux after Hee-Chan Hwang was deemed to have fouled Fabian Schar in the box
November - Wolves boss O'Neil reveals referee admitted VAR should have advised him to overturn first Fulham penalty in 3-2 defeat at Craven Cottage
April - Max Kilman's late equaliser against West Ham is ruled out. Tawanda Chirewa is deemed to be interfering with play. Gary O’Neil calls it ‘one of the worst decisions I’ve witnessed’.

But the Hammers - who made two half-time substitutes - were much improved after the break. They too equalised with a penalty, Lucas Paqueta (72) scoring it after Kilman's handball.

And it was a moment of magic - and arguably the help of some wind - that saw Ward-Prowse's corner (84) swirl into the top corner to ultimately secure the Hammers' first Premier League win since March 2.

It will be a huge boost for West Ham ahead of their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday.

They are now level on points with Manchester United in sixth, but have played two more games. Wolves remain in 11th.

How Wolves were denied win against West Ham

West Ham could have taken an early lead when Jarrod Bowen easily nicked the ball from a cornered Nelson Semedo, before finding Tomas Soucek. However, the midfielder could not sort his feet out in time.

Just after the half hour, Wolves deservedly went ahead after being denied on a few occasions by Fabianski. Emerson was penalised for a clumsy challenge on Ait Nouri, with the penalty confirmed after a brief VAR check. It was then a super spot kick from Sarabia - playing as Wolves' false No 9 - that nestled home via the woodwork.

West Ham ended the half with no shots on target and an xG of 0.03. But within seconds of being on the pitch, half-time substitute Michail Antonio fired at Jose Sa - albeit quite tamely - to register the Hammers' first shot on target.

But the rhythm of the game was disrupted as both suffered worrying injuries. An awkward fall from Bowen saw him taken off with a hip knock, before Ait Nouri - who had a brilliant first half - was also replaced by the returning Matheus Cunha.

West Ham thought they had equalised just after the hour, but Emerson's goal was ruled out. He nodded home at the back post from Mohammed Kudus' cross, but was deemed to have fouled Semedo in the build-up. The referee initially ruled out the goal, with VAR confirming the decision.

But the Hammers deservedly went ahead soon after. Their goal also came from the spot, with Max Kilman penalised for handball. There was a brief VAR review, but Paqueta soon dispatched his thunderous penalty.

The moment of the afternoon though came from Ward-Prowse's ever-impressive set-piece delivery. The elements arguably played their part as his inswinging corner floated in at the far post, but West Ham would not have minded as they completed their comeback.

Player ratings

Wolves: Sa (6), S Bueno (6), Kilman (6), T Gomes (7), Semedo (7), J Gomes (7), Doyle (6), Ait Nouri (8), Doherty (7), M Lemina (7), Sarabia (7).

Subs used: Cunha (6), Traore (6), Chiwome (6), H Bueno (n/a), Chirewa (n/a).

West Ham: Fabianski (6), Coufal (6), Mavropanos (6), Zouma (7), Emerson (6), Alvarez (6), Soucek (6), Kudus (6), Ward-Prowse (7), Paqueta (6), Bowen (7).

Subs used: Johnson (8), Antonio (7), Cresswell (7).

Player of the match: Rayan Ait Nouri.

With 10 minutes of stoppage-time shown, Wolves finally began to push for a second-half goal - and did find the net as Kilman headed home from a late corner. But VAR intervened, sending Harrington over to the screen to scrutinise Chirewa's positioning.

Eventually, it was decided that the 20-year-old was in an offside position, meaning Fabianski could not have made the save from Kilman's effort. It was a subjective and controversial decision as Wolves ended the game with defeat.

O'Neil: Three crazy events cost us

Wolves manager Gary O'Neil to Sky Sports: "Game wise, we were excellent in the first half. It was fantastic for the boys to produce that performance with what we have available versus what West Ham have available. To be that dominant is exceptional.

"Second half, they went a little bit more man-for-man and we struggled to get out. We lacked a threat in behind and two crazy goals. The penalty we gave away trying to pass to each other is on us, and then the ball goes in direct from a corner.

"How we've lost that match today is unbelievable. It's really disappointing.

"There will be bits of it we'll be disappointed with, but understanding where we are in this moment is important. West Ham are pretty much at full strength and we are downward, we played no striker and completely dominated the first half.

"But they [West Ham] didn't create anything really. We gave them a crazy penalty, the wind blowing that way and the corner curls into the far post. I haven't seen anything like it since I was involved in kids football.

"A crazy three events - from us, to let them back into the game with a penalty, then the second goal which we could probably do better with as well and then the VAR decision at the end - that have handed West Ham three points they didn't deserve."

Moyes praises subs impact

West Ham manager David Moyes to Sky Sports: "It's like the two teams changed strips at half-time.

"We looked slow [in the first half], they looked quicker to the ball, retained it better than we did. There were very few things in the first half we did right, if anything at all.

"The best part about the first half is we only went in a goal down. I'm still not convinced that was a penalty kick. I don't think he goes to shoot, I think he goes to turn back away, and he chooses to put his foot to try and look back and it's given.

"I needed to see if we could try and do something different to what we'd done [in the second half]. We eventually changed and the system probably changed later in the game and gave us the bigger foothold in the game. The three subs we bought on all had huge contributions.

"At this time of the year, it's hard to win games. We've had a difficult run of games so this week alone has been difficult and some difficult moments as well today and over the last two games.

"We've been hoping we'll be in Europe at this stage and get to another latter stages of it. We're going to do everything we can [against Leverkusen], we're up against a huge team, but we've done pretty well in Europe so I've got good feelings we can try and do it again."

On Bowen's injury: "It looks sore so we'll need to see how he is, but hopefully we get him back for Thursday night."

Opta stats - Century for Ward-Prowse

West Ham have now won six of their last eight Premier League matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers (L2), with today's victory being just their third at Molineux in the competition (D1 L4).
West Ham's James Ward-Prowse has now registered 100 direct goal involvements in the Premier League (55 goals, 45 assists) - it was his 13th goal involvement of this season (6 goals, 7 assists), bringing him level with his tally from 2022/23 (9 goals, 4 assists).
Only Southampton between November 1997 and April 2014 (29) have had a longer run of successfully taken penalties in Premier League history than Wolves' ongoing run of 23.