Wolves 2 Fulham 1: Pedro Neto injury overshadows win and could have huge implications for club’s summer finances
PEDRO NETO spent his 24th birthday with bucket loads of ice.
However the poor little Portuguese winger wasn't in the mood to crack open the bubbly to celebrate his big day.
Nor was he likely to toast the second half goals from Rayan Ait-Nouri or Nelson Semedo's deflected clincher which crashed off Tom Cairney to seal Wolves' latest win.
Instead, he was forced to apply ice to his troublesome hamstring injury which forced him off just before half-time.
It was the latest savage injury blow to blight the Wolves winger's stop-start season.
This should have been a day to celebrate as Wolves climbed above Brighton and Newcastle to finish the day eighth in the table.
However some of the shine was taken off this gritty performance due to the loss of Neto and Jean-Ricner Bellgarde before half-time, after Bellegarde damaged his left knee, before Neto's hamstring pinged.
O'Neil is unlikely to have Neto fit again for next Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final against Coventry City.
However, just as seriously, it could have massive implications for the Molineux club's finances this summer.
O'Neil is already bracing himself to lose Neto, his top talent, during the close season with Newcastle United, Arsenal and Liverpool leading the club's monitoring Pedro's progress.
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The 24-year-old's talent has never been in doubt - however his injury record during his five years at Molineux could be in danger of scaring potential buyers off.
He suffered a serious knee injury in his debut season with Wolves - ironically against Fulham - which ruled him out from April until the following February.
Then in October 2022 he required surgery on an ankle injury which sidelined him for five months.
That ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar, while this season he has missed eight weeks and eight games due to hamstring issues.
The poor guy must feel cursed after he burst by Antonee Robinson, only to pull up clutching the back of his leg.
That brought an end to a disjointed first half short on quality and incident.
In fact Harry Wilson passed up the best opening when he raced onto Alex Iwobi's brilliant through ball, only to fire wide with the outside of his left boot with only Jose Sa to beat.
As Wolves rode their luck Harrison Reed set up Tosin Adarabioyo who should have scored but crashed his shot off the crossbar.
However O'Neil's boys stepped it up in the second half and broke the deadlock after 52 minutes.
Calvin Bassey made a mess of trying to head clear a free kick and Toti pounced behind him and squared for Ait-Nouri to lash the ball home.
Fifteen minutes later the home side put this game to bed.
Joao Gomes set up Semedo with a clever back heel and the defender's shot took a wicked deflection off Tom Cairney to leave Bernd Leno stranded.
Fulham pulled one back in stoppage time when Armando Broja's shot was turned past Sa by Iwobi.
Wolves thought the former Arsenal and Everton man had strayed offside however VAR confirmed that the former Arsenal and Everton man was marginally onside.
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