Bruno Lage had urged his Wolves players to seize the moment, comparing their run-in to the 100m sprint, but his side look set to splutter over the line and miss out on qualifying for Europe after slipping to a third successive defeat and a seventh in 10 matches.
Wolves were maddening and muddled, and this latest perplexing performance further damages their fading hopes of usurping those above them in the table.
A first-half penalty from Alexis Mac Allister, who earlier rattled the upright from the spot, a smart finish from Leandro Trossard and a late drive by Yves Bissouma helped a businesslike Brighton coast to a victory that keeps them on course for their highest top-flight finish.
Willy Boly’s tame header on 85 minutes – Wolves’ first effort on target – was sarcastically jeered and seconds later Bissouma wrapped up victory from the edge of the area, prompting plenty of home fans to vacate their seats.
Those who were left groaned upon confirmation over the speakers of three minutes of second-half stoppage time as they tried to make sense of a dispiriting afternoon.
Lage, too, is seeking answers after another opportunity slipped through Wolves’ fingers. “I need to smell it, if the guys want to continue to put the club on a different level,” he said.
“I need to understand who wants to go to war and who wants to put in a different level. It is not time to relax. I need to see that they want to play my game. No one is here to play by themselves, or for them. We didn’t play the game, we just watched Brighton play.”
With West Ham and Manchester United not in action until Sunday and Monday respectively, this was a chance for Wolves, lurking in eighth, to finally apply some pressure, but they again allowed their rivals off the hook.
Wolves have a game in hand on United, but with trips to Chelsea and Liverpool to come either side of home matches against Manchester City and Norwich, the final straight threatens to be fruitless and now they have Brighton in pursuit, five points behind them in ninth.
Mac Allister’s first penalty, after a Romain Saïss handball, cannoned against the post but he made no mistake second time around after Boly clipped the heels of Danny Welbeck as the striker surged into the area.
“It’s 44 points now, which is our record and we have nine to play for,” Graham Potter said. “Now we have to finish off as strong as we can.”
Wolves were booed off at half-time and Lage shared supporters’ frustrations, arching his back on the edge of his technical area as Leander Dendoncker’s cross into the area eluded everybody in gold shirts.
João Moutinho skittled a free-kick into the Brighton wall on the hour but, if anything typified Wolves’ weary display, it was Pedro Neto’s daisy-cutter of a corner soon after that failed to beat the first man. Then came the killer blow.
Welbeck, who caused chaos in Wolves’ back line, slipped in Trossard and he chopped inside Moutinho before rifling a shot into the far corner of José Sá’s goal.
Cue the olés from the away fans as Brighton stroked the ball across the pitch, before Bissouma sealed a deserved victory over a worryingly toothless Wolves. The hosts seem to be suffering from stage fright at the worst possible time and no one was more baffled by their no-show than Lage.
“I don’t understand why we arrived to this point, with a lot of things to conquer and we appeared with a performance like that,” he said.
“That is why it was so disappointing.”
