Comment: Emotions still raw, but Wolves have to learn

There has been some time to reflect on Wolves’ 1-1 draw at Burnley and the hugely-debatable penalty call at the heart of it.

But the frustration remains the same, and the consequences could be enormous.

Should it have been a penalty, then, or did Mike Dean get it horribly wrong?

My view is that it was harsh on Matt Doherty. The Irishman did the natural thing and aimed to protect his face as Chris Wood attempted an overhead kick – it was not a deliberate attempt to stop the striker from scoring.

Common sense would tell you Doherty’s arm was in a perfectly reasonable position.

After all, he is hardly going to happily let Wood’s boot – with the former Albion man still having every right to go for it, let’s be clear – smash him square in the face.

But, and this is not the first piece of evidence in support of it, common sense does not seem to be accounted for when it comes to game-changing decisions and VAR reviews.

Wolves are no strangers to having major incidents going against them either.

They had a Leander Dendoncker goal ruled out on the opening day at Leicester, and a Willy Boly one chalked off in the reverse fixture.

At Liverpool, Sadio Mane’s goal stood after initially being denied for an Adam Lallana handball, while Pedro Neto saw a strike disallowed for offside by Jonny Castro Otto. I could cite a few more examples, too.

On the other side of the coin, though, you could perhaps argue luck has evened itself out.

Wolves drew 1-1 against the Clarets at Molineux earlier this season, too, when a penalty call at the death went in favour of Nuno Espirito Santo’s side – VAR backing up Craig Pawson’s decision.

My mind will not be changed when it comes to the Turf Moor spot-kick. It should not have been a penalty.

However, there is another thing which needs raising.

And that is the fact that Wolves did not manage the game as they should have done after taking the lead.

Conor Coady, while rightly fuming at Dean’s decision, admitted as much afterwards.

“We should have managed the game better,” said the skipper. “You look at the negatives about it. We have drawn the game, and we feel like we should have won it.

“We need to manage the game better in those situations if I am being honest with you.”

Wolves fell into the same trap that they did at Sheffield United last week.

Nuno bringing on Leander Dendoncker and Jonny Castro Otto for Ruben Vinagre and Raul Jimenez – whose stupendous strike was the mark of a world-class centre forward – in the 84th minute maybe, with the benefit of hindsight, should not have been done.

Instead of seeing out the advantage, Wolves were hanging on.

And let’s not forget, Wood missed an absolute sitter only seconds before the penalty.

With an open goal to aim at, after Rui Patricio had made a real mess of a lofted cross to the far post, he, somehow, headed it wide.

Of course, Wood would go on to make up for that clanger with an emphatic top-corner finish from 12 yards out.

When Jimenez went off, Wolves lost their outlet.

Yes, the Mexican – apart from his gorgeous goal – cut a fatigued figure, but would a few more minutes on the pitch have made any noticeable difference in terms of recovery?

Although Adama Traore and Pedro Neto remained out there, Wolves’ focal point, the man who everybody else feeds off in attack, was gone.

So, they ended up penned in, and Burnley, who had offered very little – especially in the first half – punished them.

Ultimately, this was even more of a sucker-punch than at Bramall Lane.

At least against the Blades, you could accept Wolves had not played well all evening. Here, though, they definitely should have come out on top.

Although the penalty was incorrectly awarded by Dean, it should not have got to that position either. The blame does not lie solely with the referee.

Monday’s clash with Crystal Palace is absolutely crucial in the race for Europe now.

Let’s hope Wolves, while understandably angry, can respond resoundingly. They tend to when the chips are down.