Cardiff 0-1 Wolves: Nuno’s side 5 points away from Premier League

Wolverhampton Wanderers took a huge step towards Premier League promotion with a 1-0 win at fellow Championship title challengers Cardiff City.

Nuno’s side are now five points away from securing automatic promotion with five games remaining, moving nine points ahead of the Bluebirds in the process, with the Welsh side still having a game in hand.

Wolves have opened up a 14-point lead up over third place Fulham with the West Midlands club finishing the season with fixtures against Derby County (home), Birmingham City (home), Bolton Wanderers (away), Sheffield Wednesday (home) and Sunderland (away).

After a tight opening 45 minutes which saw Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge forced into a couple of long distance saves with Wolves in control of the majority of possession.

Cardiff did offer a counter attack threat, particularly though Junior Hoilett and Kenneth Zahore, but John Ruddy’s most difficult save came from a Yanic Wildschut free kick in the second half.

It was a free kick from which Wolves won the game thanks to influential midfielder Ruben Neves, who has been a key part in helping Wolves to the top of the Championship this season under fellow countryman Nuno.

The home side blue two excellent opportunities to equalise in stoppage time as they were awarded back-to-back penalties.  The first saw Gary Medine go down softly in the box after backing into Conor Coady and then throwing himself into the ground. John Ruddy pushed Medine’s ensuing spot kick around the post.

A second penalty was award when Aron Gunnarsson smartly throw himself to the ground after Ivan Cavaleiro dived in two-footed just inside his own penalty area.  This time Junior Hoilett stepped up and struck the underside of the crossbar.

The Wolves manager and his coaching staff stormed the field to celebrate with the team as bitter Cardiff manager Neil Warnock refused to shake hands with his opposite number.