Wolves boss Gary O'Neil bemoans Newcastle United 'luck' as 'disaster' Hwang Hee-Chan update provided

Gary O'Neil has bemoaned his side's poor luck during Saturday's disappointing 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United.

Wolves saw a run of three straight victories come to a crushing end at St James' Park, with Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Tino Livramento on the scoresheet for Newcastle. The away side enjoyed more possession but saw unforced errors pounced upon by their clinical hosts, with Isak sweeping home a counter-attack and Gordon reacting first when Jose Sa spilled a cross.

O'Neil's side pressed to pull one back and heap the pressure on Newcastle but instead conceded a third when Livramento drove into space and saw his poked effort squirm past Sa. It was a tough one to take for the Wolves boss, who insists 3-0 was not a fair scoreline.

"Key players missing, a lot of young lads in and around it today, and we had large spells in the game where we looked really good, had lots of control, had loads of the ball, but two real slack moments for the goals cost us," he said. "They were lucky that both of them ended up costing us and two of them had large deflections on them, but one we left ourselves open on the counter-attack, which was really disappointing because we spoke about it and the second one was the pressing phase which we go slightly wrong.

"There was a touch of fortune in both of the goals, and it wasn’t a 2-0 first half because I thought we had some moments of real control, which you don’t often see at St James’ Park, for a team to come away and dominate the ball.

“We got into some real good situations, but didn’t have enough quality to get in on the goal, but in terms of the group giving everything they’ve got, they did that again. Then the third one comes when we were very open and the lads didn’t deserve a three-nil as that flatters Newcastle. But it’s one of those days that you have to accept."

Wolves were without top goalscorer Hwang Hee-Chan for the trip to St James' Park after the South Korean limped off with a hamstring complaint during Wednesday's FA Cup win over Brighton. O'Neil was unable to give a timeframe initially but has now confirmed a lengthy absence is on the cards.

“Channy had a tight hamstring at half-time last week and wanted to carry on and hurt it, so Pedro, with a tight hamstring, we had no choice to make sure he was off and safe, and make sure we had enough to go again on another day.

“It’s approximately six weeks for Channy, which is obviously a disaster for where we are at this moment. Him and Cunha will probably be back around similar times, probably Cunha slightly earlier than Channy now, so losing Pedro today was far from ideal."