Burnley 2-0 Wolves
- Published
Sean Dyche made a dream start to his reign as Burnley boss with a convincing victory over a lacklustre Wolves side.
Martin Paterson gave the Clarets an 18th-minute lead and Dean Marney should have doubled the hosts' advantage before half-time at Turf Moor.
Prolific striker Charlie Austin was left unmarked to head in his 19th goal of an already phenomenal season, as Wolves' defence threatened to unravel.
Bakary Sako rattled the post for Wolves but Burnley saw out time comfortably.
This was a second successive home clean sheet for the Clarets and will offer further encouragement to Dyche as he begins his efforts to cure the Lancashire side's defensive woes.
In contrast there were few positives for Wolves manager Stale Solbakken as his side dropped to ninth in the Championship table, one point above Burnley in 13th.
The Clarets were on top from the off. In the fifth minute centre-back Michael Duff swept the ball forward and, after some neat interplay, Ross Wallace fizzed a left-footed effort over from the edge of the box.
Wallace was perhaps fortunate to stay on the field moments later, as he was shown a yellow card by referee Mark Haywood moments after clipping the heels of Kevin Doyle as the Wolves forward broke clear.
However, the hosts took the lead soon after when left-back Ben Mee found Paterson with a clever pass around the back of the Wolves back four, which the striker gathered and fired beyond visiting goalkeeper Carl Ikeme.
Wolves came close to levelling when Sako dragged a shot across the face of goal and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake almost stole in with the vital touch.
Sako almost dragged his side back into the match when he drove forward and slammed a shot against the upright.
Burnley's momentum was interrupted in worrying fashion when Wallace went down following an aerial challenge with Jermaine Pennant. He received oxygen on the pitch and left on a stretcher, to be replaced by Danny Ings.
Wolves failed to force the issue as the clock ran down and Clarets substitute Sam Vokes almost increased the misery for his former club in stoppage time.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche: "It was a fantastic start. I spoke about bringing about a one-club mentality and that's a good way to start when a big club like Wolves come to town and you get a nice win and a clean sheet.
"The players have been very honest, they know there is work to be done and there is still work to be done but it was more a case of realigning them.
"They're good people and are very honest and they know what they can do and some of the things they haven't been doing well."
Wolves manager Stale Solbakken: "It was a bad performance overall until there were 15 or 20 minutes left.
"When they scored the goal they were on top and I changed it around and at the end we had chances to score but it was one of those days.
"I must say that players who for a long time had been rock solid had off days and I probably picked the wrong team. All the players tried as hard as they could but they didn't have a good day and it is down to the manager."