Gary O'Neil pressure grows as Jarrod Bowen piles misery on Wolves before Mario Lemina hits out

Time appears up for Gary O’Neil but Julen Lopetegui very much remains in the hot seat.

Jarrod Bowen’s fourth goal of the season was enough to earn West Ham a win that will keep Lopetegui in the job for now - but this was hardly inspiring stuff on a fraught night for both teams.

Tomas Soucek had headed the hosts in front from a corner - the 14th set piece goal conceded by O’Neil’s team in 15 games - before Matt Doherty scored a decent equaliser while the Wolves boss was still seething that his team had not been awarded a penalty moments earlier.

But Hammers captain Bowen produced the game’s solitary moment of top quality when evading two Wolves players before sending a left-footed finish into the bottom corner.

And while the Hammers remain 14th in the table, with plenty of room for improvement, O’Neil looks set to depart Molineux with Wolves four points adrift of safety.

Unsurprisingly both sides appeared terrified of making the mistake that would spell the end for their boss and it took some time for the action to gather pace.

It was not until the 21st minute that a meaningful attempt was conjured up with Joao Gomes drilling straight at Lukasz Fabianski from range.

Bowen then called Sam Johnstone into straightforward action having beaten Toti for pace before Max Kilman, who swapped Molineux for Stratford last summer, had a header deflected off target.

But Wolves, set up to counterattack, should really have been in front in the 31st minute when Gomes side-footed wide from three yards while being pressured by Edson Alvarez.

It came from a flowing move in which Matheus Cunha initially broke and fed Doherty on the right to cross. And while O’Neil’s team looked solid defensively, such forays forward remained rare.

Still, that close shave brought West Ham out of their shell and Johnstone looked unconvincing when parrying away a Kudus shot. From the ensuing corner Summerville’s inswinger almost went straight in.

Hints of momentum building at that point proved a false alarm as Gomes and Doherty both had half chances blocked on the stroke of half-time.

Doherty almost got on the end of a Cunha cross less than a minute into the second period but it was not long before Wolves were again hurting themselves in familiar fashion.

Bowen’s corner was sent deep to Soucek and no one in a Wolves shirt decided to pick up the tall Czech as he sent a looping header into the far corner.

Mohamed Kudus thought he had doubled the Hammers’ advantage when tapping in a Bowen centre only for a lengthy VAR check to rule the Ghanaian offside.

However the introduction of Goncalo Guedes’ off the bench offered Wolves some fresh impetus and he was denied what looked like a clear penalty to everyone apart from referee John Brooks and VAR Andy Madley when being nudged by Emerson Palmieri.

O’Neil was still fuming when Doherty finished Ait-Nouri’s cross first time to level proceedings.

But just as it looked like Wolves were on the up, Bowen knocked them back down again when finishing exquisitely after weaving in from the edge of the area.

Wolves had a second late penalty shout denied by VAR after Mavropanos appeared to trod on the foot of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde to darken O’Neil’s mood further.

And as the full-time whistle went Mario Lemina saw a red mist descend as he hit out at Bowen before turning on his own players and staff.

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