{"id":202306,"date":"2025-12-20T18:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T18:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/202306\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T18:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T18:01:07","slug":"wolves-winless-run-continues-as-keane-lewis-potter-doubles-up-for-brentford-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/202306\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolves\u2019 winless run continues as Keane Lewis-Potter doubles up for Brentford | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being bottom at Christmas need not mean the drop. Three years ago, Wolves were in such a position, the difference being they kicked off on Boxing Day with 10 points rather than two. The current plight of Wolves is one of historic incompetence, the worst losing run in club history. Keane Lewis-Potter\u2019s second-half double, Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher\u2019s save of J\u00f8rgen Strand Larsen\u2019s penalty adding insult to injury, left them 14 points adrift of safety. Only three teams have previously lost 10 Premier League<\/a> matches in succession. Each of them finished rock-bottom come May.<\/p>\n

It had been a week of change and tragedy at Molineux. Jeff Shi, an unpopular club chair who recently described relegation as a \u201ctechnicality\u201d, departed on Friday, replaced by Nathan Shi, the interim appointment a namesake but no relation. Ahead of the game, Ethan McLeod<\/a>, the Wolves trainee and Macclesfield forward who died in a car accident, received a minute\u2019s silence. His brother, Conor, a current under-21 squad member, was among extended family on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

If their opponents\u2019 position is near-terminal, Brentford\u2019s run of form has given rise to relegation concerns. Winning at Wolves was imperative. Keith Andrews had dropped last week\u2019s goalscorer against Leeds<\/a>, Jordan Henderson, for the younger legs of Yehor Yarmolyuk in seeking a first win in six. His team began in the usual fashion, with a Michael Kayode long throw.<\/p>\n

Andrews\u2019 team were having, though not necessarily enjoying, a share of possession. Where 44% is their average it ticked towards 70%. It does not come naturally.<\/p>\n

To achieve mission impossible, initial objective the 11 points Derby went down with in 2008, Rob Edwards is digging in, tactics less three at the back than five. Often seven. Entertainment in short supply, the paying public directed attention to the boardroom, with chants of \u201cFosun out\u201d and banners declaring \u201cour club\u201d brandished.<\/p>\n

A dejected Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1 after Keane Lewis-Potter gets past him for the second time. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Despite Brentford\u2019s command of possession, Kelleher made the first save, when David M\u00f8ller Wolfe\u2019s cross almost deflected past him, only briefly lifting apathy in the Molineux stands. A first shot on goal did not arrive until the 31st minute, Wolves\u2019s Andr\u00e9 driving a free-kick into the wall. That represented the longest wait for a first shot in the Premier League for six years. Kayode\u2019s arms remained Brentford\u2019s chief creator until, at last, Lewis-Potter jinked into the box to force a save from Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1.<\/p>\n

Could the second half improve on such low-level ambition and application? Ki-Jana Hoover\u2019s aimless clatter of the ball into the Jack Hayward Stand suggested not, though almost immediately S\u00e1 made a fine reflex save from Kevin Schade\u2019s header, followed by a less convincing fumble of a shot from the same Brentford forward.<\/p>\n

Spirits and volume rose during a period of Wolves pressure that was energetic though bereft of quality. Full rancour came once Lewis-Potter scored his first, after Vitaly Janelt\u2019s chip and a communication breakdown between Ladislav Krejci and Santiago Bueno presented an early Christmas gift.<\/p>\n

Before that, Wolves fans, long resigned to their fate, looked to the past for comfort, as they had been singing of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and R\u00faben Neves, heroes from happier, less hopeless times.<\/p>\n

Brentford have an unhappy habit of conceding points from winning positions, and hopes were momentarily raised when M\u00f8ller Wolfe\u2019s header refused to dip low enough. Mikkel Damsgaard, on as a substitute as Andrews sought control of midfield, might have sealed it from Lewis-Potter\u2019s diagonal. Instead, Damsgaard, from the left, supplied Lewis-Potter\u2019s volleyed second.<\/p>\n

After Kelleher saved Strand Larsen\u2019s late spot-kick after a softish award for the Irishman\u2019s challenge on Matt Doherty, chants of \u201cyou\u2019re not fit to wear the shirt\u201d grew louder. Stripped of assets, plunging to historic lows, there will be no great escapes here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being bottom at Christmas need not mean the drop. Three years ago, Wolves were in such a position,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-202306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}