Jimenez Scores Late Winner for Wolves Against Sheffield United
Raul Jimenez stepped off the bench and ripped the script to pieces at Bramall Lane, smashing in a 90th-minute winner to drag Wolves past Sheffield United in a tight, tetchy 1-0 contest.
One swing of his right boot. One moment of class. Game over.
Jimenez settles it at the death
For almost the entire afternoon this was a game that refused to catch fire. Sheffield United, usually good value for chaos at home, barely laid a glove on Wolves before the break. Chris Wilder’s side had just two touches in the opposition box in the first half and produced a meagre 0.06 expected goals. The Blades, so often involved in end-to-end battles here, found themselves locked in a tactical arm-wrestle instead.
Wolves, though, always carried the sharper edge. Marshall Munetsi was the main menace early on, thundering a first-time effort straight at Michael Cooper after Rodrigo Gomes picked him out with a fizzing cross. It was a warning, not a breakthrough.
The flashpoint came five minutes after the restart. Mateus Mane flicked the ball towards goal, Mark McGuinness’ arm shot out, and the ball clearly struck it in the box. Everyone in gold appealed. Referee Rob Jones pointed to the corner flag.
On co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, Gary Rowett didn’t mince his words: “His arm comes out, it hits him on the end of the arm. I think Sheffield United have probably got away with one there.” Wolves raged. Bramall Lane breathed again.
The sense of injustice could easily have rattled Cesar Peixoto’s side. Instead, the game tightened further. Hugo Bueno curled a shot just wide from the edge of the box. Ladislav Krejci flirted with a red card when he hauled down Sydie Peck having already been booked, but stayed on. It felt like one of those afternoons that drifts to a goalless shrug.
Then the Blades finally stirred.
Blades’ late push falls short
Sheffield United’s attacking play had been slow and predictable for long spells, but the introduction of Jordan Ayew changed the rhythm. On debut, he almost made an instant mark. Driving in from the right, he lashed a cross-shot across the face of goal that flashed inches past the far post. The home crowd roared, sensing a late surge.
Wilder’s players pushed higher, hunted second balls, and squeezed Wolves back without ever truly exposing them. Cooper, as Wilder later pointed out, barely had a serious save to make all afternoon. United limited a dangerous Wolves attack to half-chances and long-range efforts. That was the plan: keep it tight, wait for a moment.
The problem? Wolves had the player who lives for those moments.
Peixoto’s gamble pays off
Jimenez, 35 now and carefully managed through a congested week of fixtures, had watched most of the match from the bench. Peixoto knows he cannot burn out his captain, but he also knows exactly what the Mexican brings when the game stretches and legs tire.
With the clock ticking into the final minute, the visitors finally found the incision they had been threatening in flashes. Andre picked out Kieran Trippier, who shifted the ball on for Tommy Doyle. One more pass, one clear sight of goal. Doyle slid it into Jimenez, lurking where great strikers always lurk.
The finish was pure instinct. A sweep from close range, low and ruthless. The away end exploded, yellow shirts piling towards the corner flag as Bramall Lane fell silent.
Peixoto later underlined just how central his captain remains, even when he starts among the substitutes. Jimenez, he said, is “a key player” who helped from the bench not only with the goal but in defending set-pieces, a senior figure being “managed” through a three-game week yet still decisive when it mattered most.
Wilder left to rue missed edge
Wilder cut a frustrated figure afterwards. He knows what this level demands. “They punish you if you just switch off for a moment,” he said, and that single lapse in the 90th minute will sting for some time.
He felt his team “maybe didn’t get what they deserved” and pointed to a second half where Sheffield United largely muzzled Wolves’ attacking threat. But the blunt truth is they never found the quality in the final third to tilt the game their way. Positions were promising; the final ball and finish were not.
For Wolves, it was exactly the kind of hard, ugly win that shapes a season. For Sheffield United, it was a sharp reminder of Wilder’s own warning: in the top end of the Championship, one moment of concentration lost can turn a solid performance into a brutal lesson.
The question now is simple: which of these two sides learns faster from a night decided in the 90th minute?
