Wolves' Gary O'Neil hits out at second-half display despite Sheffield United win

Gary O'Neil has revealed that he "hated" the second-half performance of his Wolverhampton Wanderers side during the 1-0 victory over Sheffield United.

The West Midlands outfit went into the encounter with the division's bottom-placed team with the opportunity to move into eighth position in the Premier League standings.

In an entertaining first half that saw chances arrive at either end, Pablo Sarabia opened the scoring with a finely-taken header from a Rayan Ait-Nouri cross.

However, rather than kick on and dominate the Blades, Wolves allowed their opponents time on the ball and showed a lack of urgency when they had possession of it themselves.

Wolves were ultimately able to see out the contest, posting the ideal response to losing recent home fixtures against Manchester United and Brentford.

Nevertheless, O'Neil was less than impressed with how his players went about their business in the second half, indicating that he thought Wolves were fortunate to secure maximum points.

© Reuters

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Englishman said: "I liked us first half, we should have scored a couple more. Then really similarly to the away game, I hated the second half. Part of that is on me, we had a lot of time on the ball and didn't know what to do with it.

"The big positive today was the support of the fans. They never gave up or turned. It's the Premier League, it's difficult to win, sometimes you have to dig in."

On specific reasons for the drop off in level, he added: "Decision making and some technical errors which aren't really us. All of that is an accumulation of the atmosphere our errors create.

"When we watch that back, the lads will really clearly see the solutions. We need to make sure we fix it. But as the staff just reminded me, we are eighth in the Premier League."

Wolves are next in action when they square off against Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday night.

Three days later, Wolves meet Newcastle United at St James' Park in a crucial encounter in the race for European qualification, with the current gap between the eighth and ninth-placed teams being just the one point.