It was in the 69th minute when Yeremy Pino wheeled away in celebration after doubling Crystal Palace’s lead, his delicious shot from the edge of the area crashing in off the underside of the crossbar. In the away technical area, Oliver Glasner was also on the move, the Palace manager briefly dancing on ice as he almost lost his footing. By the end, the delirious away supporters were asking their goalkeeper Dean, Henderson, for song suggestions.
For Wolves and Rob Edwards, this his first game in permanent charge, there was only more pain. Pino scored six minutes after Daniel Muñoz opened the scoring to earn a win that propels Palace into fourth. Wolves remain on two points and rooted to the bottom of the Premier League after a dozen matches; they are the only winless team in the top seven tiers of English football and hurtling towards the Championship.
For Edwards, this was a moment that had felt a long time coming. He made more than 100 appearances for the club as a defender in the second tier and returned after retiring as a player, taking the role of under-18s head coach. Stints as under-23s and first-team coach followed, as well as two matches in caretaker charge in 2016.
Edwards never strayed too far from the radar of the Wolves hierarchy and this week the chair, Jeff Shi, compared the 42-year-old’s return to that of “an old friend joining us as a leader of the club, to start a new chapter”. Edwards could not hide his smile as Hi Ho Silver Lining thumped over the speakers before kick-off.
