Gary O’Neil hailed match-winner Hwang Hee-chan after Wolves edged out Burnley.

The striker’s first-half goal – his ninth of the season – condemned the Clarets to a 1-0 defeat at Molineux on Tuesday evening.

Wolves moved 11 points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone with South Korea international Hwang earning praise from the boss.

“The numbers are incredibly impressive,” Boss O’Neil said. “Everything about him is impressive, will he continue at this rate for the rest of the season? I hope so. If the team can keep performing.

“When the ball falls to him in the penalty area I have a really good feeling he will be in the right area.

“It’s no fluke he has as many goals as he has, he’s bought in fully to what we’re trying to do. He arrives in good areas time and time again, keeps going and eight (league) goals is a really impressive return.

“It was a massive win for us. They are a good side, maybe it’s disrespectful to say ‘job done’ because they won the Championship by a long way last season, were the sixth or seventh biggest spenders in the summer. They have every right to be competitive, I’m really pleased as it’s a big win.”

Pablo Sarabia twice went close before Dan Bentley saved from Sander Berge and Josh Brownhill.

But Burnley shot themselves in the foot three minutes before the break to gift Wolves a winner.

James Trafford and Dara O’Shea played out of the back to find Berge, but the midfielder’s heavy touch allowed Sarabia to steal in and find Matheus Cunha.

He then picked out the unmarked Hwang who beat Trafford with a low finish for his ninth goal of the season.

From then Burnley struggled to create, with Bentley never troubled, as Wolves earned a first clean sheet since August and are now five unbeaten at home.

Burnley remain in the drop zone after a 12th defeat in 15 games and are three points from the safety line having beaten Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday, but failed to follow it up.

Boss Vincent Kompany said: “It’s decided in moments, we had ours, didn’t take them and in one of the few chances we conceded, we concede a goal.

“I looked at it quickly but we’ll have to do an analysis. If something went wrong it wasn’t just decided by this one moment, we can look at ourselves and say we should have scored.

“We have been in games for quite some time now, we have to believe this will give us the results.

“We play against teams with quality, we have to stay in positions where we can get results and today was close. This is where we need to step it up.”

Hwang Hee-chan fired Wolves to a narrow win over struggling Burnley.

The forward’s ninth goal of the season earned the hosts a 1-0 victory at Molineux.

Dan Bentley denied Josh Brownhill and Sander Berge in the first half, but the Clarets remain second bottom while Wolves – who recorded a first clean sheet since August – climb to 12th, 11 points above the relegation zone.

Fresh from their 5-0 thumping of Sheffield United, which ended a seven-game losing run, the Clarets looked to control the game.

But it was Pablo Sarabia who had the first real chance when his deflected strike was tipped over by James Trafford before the midfielder volleyed over.

All of Wolves’ home games this term had come against the top eight – which had seen them beat Manchester City and Tottenham – but against relegation-threatened Burnley there was added expectation.

Yet they struggled to find their fluid best as the visitors bossed first-half possession with Zeki Amdouni testing Bentley from distance.

With growing momentum, the visitors found further confidence and Jacob Bruun Larsen fired over before Bentley bailed Wolves out six minutes before the break.

Joao Gomes lost out to Amdouni and Johann Gudmundsson as he tried to see the ball behind with the latter crossing to Berge.

His shot was blocked by Bentley and the goalkeeper then produced a better save to turn Brownhill’s volleyed follow up wide.

But, despite Burnley’s pressing, the soft centre which has now seen them lose 12 of their 15 games cost them again after 42 minutes.

It was sloppy as Trafford and Dara O’Shea played out from the back before Berge’s heavy touch allowed Sarabia to nip in and find Matheus Cunha.

The striker picked out the unmarked Hwang in the area who kept his composure to roll past Trafford.

Kompany’s men only had themselves to blame and could have fallen further behind when Mario Lemina nodded over two minutes into the second half.

The dynamic had shifted and it was now Wolves in the ascendancy with Trafford palming Sarabia’s free-kick away just after the hour.

Burnley were blunt and hardly tested Bentley, although Vitinho drove over from the edge of the box with 13 minutes left, but with their fading threat went their chances of recovery.