Hull City 2 Wolves 3: Tigers need to keep Clucas and strengthen their squad

Wolverhampton Wanderers, having already supplanted Aston Villa as the bookmakers’ favourites to win promotion before heading to the East Riding, produced a footballing master class to maintain their winning start to the season.

Goals from £15.8m summer signing Ruben Neves, Diogo Jota and Nouha Dicko were enough to end Hull’s own unbeaten start under Slutsky and laid bare the limitations of a squad that has been plundered since relegation from the Premier League.

Last night underlined why the Tigers must not only keep hold of Clucas amid such serious interest from Burnley, but also bring in quality additions of their own before the window closes.

“The supermarket is closed,” is how the affable Slutsky has made his point about the need to keep hold of the club’s remaining assets.

It is to be hoped the Russian can do just that as, even allowing for the gulf in class between the two teams, there is something for him to build on within the Hull ranks.

This much was clear in how his players stuck to their task, as Michael Dawson cancelled Neves’s opener in the first half and then Abel Hernandez came within a whisker of doing the same to Jota after the restart when striking an upright.

Fraizer Campbell also brought a fine save from John Ruddy before Dicko clinched a deserved three points in the 90th minute, meaning David Meyler’s late, late penalty was merely a consolation.

This fighting spirit and the fact Hull are unlikely to face a team as impressive as Wolves until at least the Easter Monday return at Molineux were the two positives to take from a night when Neves took just six minutes to prove the adage, ‘you get what you pay for in life’.

As the ball came to the big money arrival from Porto 30 yards out and closer to the touchline than the centre of the field, Allan McGregor had little cause for concern.

A couple of seconds later, however, the Tigers’ goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his net courtesy of Neves unleashing a quite stunning shot.

It was the Portuguese’s first goal in English football and the ultimate way to introduce himself.

‘He’s just too good for you,’ sang the jubilant 1,527 away fans a few minutes later as Neves was booed on his return to the field following treatment for an injury and they were right.

For much of the encounter, the same could be said about Wolves as a team as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side illustrated exactly why the bookmakers have had that change of heart since initially installing Villa as favourites.

Nenes and his goal deservedly took a lot of the plaudits, but there were plenty of others who look capable of doing a lot of damage in this season’s Championship.

Chief among these was Bright Enobakhare, an Academy product whose pace and trickery caused Hull untold problems.

His skill and cunning created the visitors’ second goal just before the interval, the Nigerian-born teenager skipping past Michael Hector with ease out wide before racing into the area.

With Max Clark also too slow to react, Enobakhare had sufficient time to look up and pick out the unmarked Diogo Jota at the back post. The on-loan Atletico Madrid man’s strike restored a lead that Dawson had wiped out shortly before the half-hour with a close-range header.

Hull’s equaliser had come against the run of play with Roderick Miranda, another Portuguese import this summer, having earlier headed over from a yard out.

Hull kept plugging away after the restart as Campbell was denied by Ruddy after wriggling through two challenges and Hernandez struck a post from Clucas’s corner. But Dicko all but ended any hopes of a late home comeback when he coolly rolled the ball past McGregor after racing clear in the final minute.

Hull reduced the arrears when Meyler scored from the spot after Adama Diomande had been pushed over. There was, though, a gulf between two squads who have had hugely contrasting summers on the recruitment front and Slutsky needs reinforcements and fast, plus confirmation from the Tigers’ board that the supermarket is, indeed, closed.

He may also lose Hernandez, who was stretchered off near the end with a suspected “serious” Achilles injury that will be scanned today.

Hull City: McGregor; Aina, Dawson, Hector, Clark; Bowen (Larsson 60), Clucas, Henriksen, Grosicki; Hernandez (Meyler 86), Campbell (Diomande 76). Unused substitutes: Mannion, Mazuch, Meyler, Weir, Lenihan.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Ruddy; Miranda, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Neves, Saiss, Douglas; Jota (Bennett 85), Enobakhare (Cavaleiro 60), Bonatini (Dicko 75). Unused substitutes: Norris, Batth, Graham, Price.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire).