Ruben Neves: Late Everton win was an amazing moment for Wolves

Wolves fans have had little to cheer about this season but left Goodison Park in buoyant mood on Boxing Day after Rayan Ait-Nouri’s 95th minute strike secured all three points.

The captain is already targeting improvements, but believes the victory was a reward for the squad’s work in mid-season break.

Neves said: “It felt amazing for us. It means a lot. For us as a team, for the club, and the fans as well.

“It was a great restart in the Premier League for us and we just want to keep on going.

“A lot of things to improve, a lot things to work on, but it was a very good game for us. It’s a really hard stadium to play at, against a really good team. It was amazing for us to come and earn three points.

“A win’s a win. Of course, you feel it a lot more when you win like this, but the win is the main thing – it was our main target for the day. We did it well.

“A lot of moments we need to improve, but as a team we did well and we handled Everton’s pressure. They’re an intense team, very physical, but we controlled it well.

“Mistakes here and there but it’s a hard place to come and play and we deserved the win.

“It was amazing. It means a lot for us because we’re worked really hard during the month to come back to the Premier League as fit as we could, as motivated as we could, so it was really important for us to win three points.

“It was a final, every single game will be a final for us now, so we are just thinking of the next one.”

Daniel Podence’s equaliser came from a creative set piece where Podence played a short corner to Neves, who crossed to Joao Moutinho, who then chipped the ball back towards the far post for Podence to volley home.

The execution of that goal – and in particular Moutinho’s excellent pass – was pleasing for the trio.

Neves added: “We work a lot during the week to come to the game and do that kind of thing.

“Set pieces are a massive part of the game, we conceded a goal from a corner as well, so we need to improve on that, but we work a lot on our offensive set pieces, and it worked well.”

In the closing stages of the game it was Everton who looked more likely to score, but the players consistently passed sidewards and backwards as the home fans became frustrated.

Wolves pounced on a loose ball and sprung the counter-attack that led to Ait-Nouri’s goal, and Neves believes Wolves’ game plan paid off.

He said: “We spoke about it before the match, every time we come here, we feel if you control the game without the ball, you will get more chances to score.

“They get a bit nervous when teams defend their own half because their fans are intense and always want the team to play in front.

“Sometimes, even if they don’t have space, they try to play in front and we can take that as a chance for us.

“We controlled the game without the ball, it’s an important part of the game, and we were comfortable without the ball and then when they tried to push, we took our chance and scored the goal.”

The result handed Julen Lopetegui a win in his first Premier League game, and Neves insists the squad – and the club – is ‘lucky’ to have a manager of his calibre at the helm.

He said: “He’s had a lot of impact. He’s a really experienced manager, he worked in big teams before, so it’s always good to work with a coach like this.

“Everyone is improving a lot. A lot of room to improve, room to work, but it was a really good start for us.

“We’ve been working on a lot of things to improve our game, to be better as a team, and that’s the impact he’s had on us.

“He’s won a lot of trophies, so we’re lucky to work with a manager like this, we need to improve and listen to him.”