Gary O'Neil delighted with Wolverhampton Wanderers' ruthlessness versus Brentford

Head coach Gary O'Neil has praised the the commitment and ruthlessness of his Wolverhampton Wanderers side after they posted a 4-1 win over Brentford on Wednesday night.

Provided with a short turnaround after the Christmas Eve fixture against Chelsea, Wolves capitalised on three pieces of calamitous Brentford defending to run out convincing victors.

Mario Lemina and Hwang Hee-chan put Wolves two goals in front inside 15 minutes, only for Yoane Wissa to immediately halve the deficit with a smart finish.

However, Hwang added a third before being withdrawn with a back injury, while Wolves withstood periods of pressure in the second half before Jean-Ricner Bellegrade converted a fourth after a second decisive error from former Wolves defender Nathan Collins.

While the scoreline was arguably too wide based on the pattern of play, Wolves were deserved winners, taking their opportunities when they came their way.

Speaking to Match of the Day after the game, O'Neil was delighted with how Wolves managed the game, particularly having ridden out a Brentford storm after the break.

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The Englishman said: "Really good. It was obviously tough with the quick turnaround, but the lads were excellent, they worked their socks off, looked together and big quality to take our opportunities.

"Especially when we had to change Hwang Hee-chan just before half-time because he was causing them a lot of problems, so for us to manage to keep going after the changes, we still looked like we were a threat on the counter. Brentford had nothing to lose. You don't win too many 4-1s away in the Premier League so it's one for the fans to enjoy.

"We were really clinical, Matheus Cunha at the end there when he has got an opportunity to shoot, he squares it to a Jean[-Ricner Bellegarde] with a perfect pass so Jean can finish it first time.

"Brentford were aggressive, we didn't have loads of control but we had big opportunities to go one-on-one and we caused them problems."

Wolves have returned to 11th position in the Premier League standings after making it 10 points from their last five fixtures.

Next up is Everton at Molineux on Saturday before Wolves make a second trip to Brentford in quick succession after being drawn against the Bees in the FA Cup third round.