'I didn't want to incite it' - Edwards defends not saluting fans

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Wolves boss Rob Edwards has defended his decision to not acknowledge the home fans after their draw with Sunderland.

The team were booed off after their 1-1 draw against the Black Cats, who played with 10 men for over an hour following Dan Ballard's red card.

Santi Bueno cancelled out Noni Mukiele's opener, scoring Wolves' first goal in 47 days, but it did not spare the head coach from fan frustration after the final whistle.

Edwards had previously said he would always recognise supporters after games, regardless of the result, but opted against it at Molineux on Saturday afternoon.

"I was frustrated, but I also thought I didn't want to incite it any more," he explained, with Wolves bottom of the table and already relegated.

"I didn't want to make the ground any more angry, so that was probably why.

"The work we do in the summer and getting off to a good start [next season] will be the important thing.

"I understand the situation at the moment. We have been relegated, we are bottom of the league, we have drawn a game against 10 men, we are just off the back of three defeats in a row.

"There is a lot of anger around and I'm going to take it."

His decision to replace Hugo Bueno with Angel Gomes was also met with jeers, but Edwards explained the situation with the full-back battling a knee injury.

"Hugo did well to get through to the moment he did," Edwards said. "He hasn't trained much all week because of his knee.

"I know there was frustration when he came off, but there was a reason for it and we were trying to get another forward on the pitch.

"He hasn't been fully fit all week, he hasn't trained fully all week, he did great to be out there anyway - but this is my opportunity to explain my reason for it."

Edwards has won five of his 26 games in all competitions since joining from Middlesbrough and replacing Vitor Pereira in November.

"We've got to continue to work hard and stay strong," he added. "We've got three more games where we've got to try to get more results.

"I knew coming in this was going to be really, really challenging. I knew at some stage we were probably going to be in this sort of situation.

"It is weird, you know, why do we put ourselves through it? At times you do think, why do we do it? But it will be all the more rewarding when we're able to turn things around."