Raul Jimenez Secures Last-Minute Victory for Wolves
Raul Jimenez stepped off the bench and ripped up the script at Bramall Lane, smashing in a 90th-minute winner to steal a 1-0 victory for Wolves over Sheffield United.
One swing of his right boot, one ruthless finish from close range, and a tight, scrappy Championship contest finally had its moment.
Late drama after penalty fury
The game had simmered more than it sparkled, but it carried a flashpoint. Early in the second half, with the score still goalless, Mateus Mane flicked the ball towards goal and Mark McGuinness’ arm came out to meet it inside the box. The ball clearly struck the defender’s outstretched hand.
Referee Rob Jones pointed to the corner flag instead of the spot.
On Sky Sports Football, co-commentator Gary Rowett did not hold back: “His arm comes out, it hits him on the end of the arm. I think Sheffield United have probably got away with one there.”
The home crowd roared for a penalty, Bramall Lane bristled, but the decision stood. Sheffield United never really shook off that sense of injustice.
A cagey contest, short on chances
Chris Wilder’s side have become used to chaos here. They had both scored and conceded in 14 of their previous 15 Championship games at Bramall Lane. This was different. This was attritional.
In the first half, Sheffield United barely laid a glove on Wolves. They managed just two touches in the opposition box and produced a meagre 0.06 expected goals. The numbers told the story: blunt, restricted, short of ideas.
Wolves were more purposeful without ever being relentless. Marshall Munetsi carried their biggest threat before the break, forcing Michael Cooper into action with a powerful first-time strike from a Rodrigo Gomes cross, but the Blades goalkeeper handled it comfortably.
Hugo Bueno then curled a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the box as Wolves probed for an opening. They were the side asking more questions; Cooper, though, was rarely stretched.
At the other end, Ladislav Krejci flirted with disaster when he hauled down Sydie Peck while already on a booking, but escaped a second yellow. It kept Wolves at full strength for the closing stages. That would matter.
Ayew’s warning, Jimenez’s answer
Just when the game looked like it might drift to a stalemate, a debutant almost changed everything.
Jordan Ayew, making his first appearance for Sheffield United, burst in from the right and drove a vicious cross-shot across the face of goal. It skimmed inches past the far post. Bramall Lane gasped. It was the Blades’ clearest sight of a breakthrough, and it went begging.
The miss felt big. It was.
As the clock ticked towards stoppage time, Wolves’ substitutes began to tilt the contest. Cesar Peixoto had talked about needing energy from the bench, and he got it.
Then came the decisive move.
Andre found Kieran Trippier on the right. One touch, head up, the ball shifted on to Tommy Doyle. The midfielder threaded a pass into the heart of the box, where Jimenez had ghosted into space.
At 35, the Mexican striker no longer sprints like he once did, but he still thinks quicker than most. One clean sweep of his boot and the ball was in the net, flashing past Cooper from close range. The away end exploded, yellow shirts piling into the corner as Bramall Lane fell silent.
Jimenez’s third goal of the season, and by far his most dramatic.
Managers’ verdicts: punishment for a lapse
Wilder knew exactly where this level bites.
“It’s top-end Championship football when you’re playing teams like we have done today. They punish you if you just switch off for a moment,” he told Sky Sports.
He felt his side had controlled much of the second half, and the numbers back him up in one sense: “Especially in the second half, we limited a very attacking team to virtually nothing. I don’t think Michael [Cooper] had a save to make.”
But that one moment, that one sequence, cost them.
“The players maybe didn’t get what they deserved from the game, but that’s how the Championship is at times, so we have to roll with that and handle it. It’s just disappointing, with the positions we’ve got into, that we’ve not found that little bit of quality to get our noses in front.”
On the opposite touchline, Peixoto could point to his bench as the difference.
“It’s an important win for us. We knew it was going to be difficult to play in this stadium against this team,” he said. “Today, the team was a team for 90 minutes. It was important the guys who came from the bench pushed in the last minutes to try to score. We scored and we won.
“I think we deserved it because we were the better team, but it was a difficult game for us.”
Jimenez, the match-winner, sits at the heart of his plans.
“He’s 35 years old, so we have to manage him the best way. He’s a key player for us. This week, we have three games, so we had to manage the options. Raul, as a captain, helped the team from the bench, not only with the goal he scored, but he helped to defend the set-pieces.”
On a night when Sheffield United’s familiar Bramall Lane pattern finally broke, Wolves’ veteran striker showed why some players still decide tight Championship games with a single, ruthless touch.
