BRATISLAVA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- In a very similar manner to their first match-up in Group K of Europa League from two weeks ago, the Wolverhampton Wanderers defeated Slovan Bratislava 1-0 on Thursday to fortify their second place in the rankings.
Wolverhampton could have taken the lead early in the game but Bratislava's promising 22-year-old goalkeeper Dominik Greif made a quick save on Joao Moutinho's shot. Greif showed off his skills on several other occasions and kept his team afloat. His tremendous leap and save on a penalty shot early in the second half became the highlight of the match at the Molineux Stadium in England.
The final phase of the clash was strongly influenced by a serious injury of the Bratislava defender Kenan Bajric who got kicked in the head and had to be treated for ten minutes right on the pitch. As a result of this delay, the referees added 12 minutes of extra time and it proved to be the deciding factor. The Mexican-born striker Raul Jimenez capitalized on Adama Traore's center pass in the 92nd minute to head in the deciding goal of the match for the Wanderers.
In the other Group K match of the night, Paulinho scored twice to lead the Portuguese team Sporting Braga to their third victory, triumphing over the win-less and last-placed Besiktas Istanbul of Turkey 3-1. Braga leads the rankings with 10 points, Wolverhampton trails by one, Bratislava is in third place with 4 points.
