Victory also came despite them having wasted multiple chances to take the lead during the first half. First Raul Jimenez was guilty of squandering a counter-attack when he dragged a low shot, from the edge of the area, harmlessly wide of the far left post.

The forward next fed Diogo Jota clean through on Wayne Hennessey when, amid the hosts' calls for offside — replays showed he had remained narrowly on —  and with time and space to pick his spot Jota could only watch as the goalkeeper spread himself to brilliantly save.

Palace have been struggling in the absence of the injured Christian Benteke and they again offered minimal attacking threat, remaining reliant on half-chances such as that when Jeffrey Schlupp shot over when Rui Patricio spilt a corner into his path.

Jimenez again put Jota into space in the area, but this time saw his team-mate struggle when shooting harmlessly high and wide of the left post.

Patricio then saved well from Luka Milivojevic's 25-yard free-kick on the stroke of half-time, but there was little question they had been — and remained — the likelier goalscorers.

Ruben Neves narrowly missed the target at the first hint of a goal early in the second half, and then in the 56th minute they took the lead.

In possession on the right wing, Doherty played a one-two with Jimenez to shake off Patrick van Aanholt and then, at the near post from a narrow angle, routinely finish beyond Hennessey and towards the far, bottom left corner.

The closest Palace came to an equalising goal was through substitute Max Meyer, unexpectedly replaced in their starting XI by Schlupp.

With a right-wing cross Andros Townsend found him just inside the area, and he connected well with a left-footed volley that forced Patricio into a fine, double save after the nearby Schlupp also reached the rebound and struck first-time towards goal.

Wolves substitute Ivan Cavaleiro threatened to double their lead when from close range he latched onto a loose, deflected ball to shoot against the crossbar, but they thereafter rarely looked at risk of conceding, and saw out a second successive defeat for Palace that left their hosts in 14th.

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Declan Warrington, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '7779b0b5-15f8-4b6d-bbe8-867686287a3b');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:match-reports,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Wolves show their teeth once more with fine win at Palace'});