It was hot out, but ice cold in Raúl Jiménez’s veins as the Mexican converted a last-minute penalty to give Wolves a lucky point against Burnley.

Like so many of his team-mates, Jiménez had a quiet game – 72 hours after facing Torino in the Europa League qualifiers and six days since an intense contest with Manchester United, Wolves looked dog-tired, well short of their usual organisation and with their slick counterattacking foundering at the first pass.

But after five minutes of second-half added time, the striker got his foot in front of Erik Pieters as the pair challenged for a loose ball, and Pieters kicked into his heel. He went down, got up again to take the kick, sent Nick Pope to the ground and coolly slotted home to put a smile on Nuno Espírito Santo’s face.

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“It was so, so tough from the first minute to the last,” Nuno said. “The way Burnley play is very difficult. They scored, they had chances. But in the second half we had the patience to find the right lines and keep on believing in ourselves until the end. We get a 95th-minute goal and Molineux is buzzing. We go again Thursday, that is my thought.”

The Wolves manager was clearly happy with the resilience shown by his team, and willing to accept a decline in performance given the current hectic nature of their schedule. “Something that we know and maybe nobody else knows is how tough it has been for the boys,” he said. “I’m going to give them a day off tomorrow, and that’s the first since … I can’t remember.”

If anyone does know what Nuno is going through, however, it is Sean Dyche whose Burnley side were trying to qualify for Europa League this time last year (and coming up short). Like his opposite number, he considers European competition a blessing, but is grateful to be in a position this year where all his players are fit and concentrated on the league.

“We were very good at the start of last season,” Dyche said. “It is a great thing to be in Europe, but it’s also a challenge and it’s about when that challenge actually arrives. We suffered from a lot of injuries last season and this year we have almost everyone alive. The team have come back with a real edge to their performances. I’m not naive, it’s early season but you want to see signs like that in their performance.”

With the weather being more typical of the Mediterranean than the Midlands, conditions seemed to suit one of these sides more than the other. It turned out to be the Lancastrian one, which makes sense given their easy access to the riviera-like attractions of Southport and Lytham St Annes.

They tore into their hosts from the off, while Wolverhampton’s Iberian-influenced contingent seemed groggy in the sun, and Ashley Barnes continued his own red-hot streak when he scored his fourth goal of the season 13 minutes in.

The move began with an uncomplicated lump upfield, seeking out the run of Barnes’s partner Chris Wood. Wood lost out in the race, but a clearing header from Ryan Bennett did not travel far and Dwight McNeil beat Rúben Neves to the second ball with a clever flicked header.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ashley Barnes is congratulated by his teammates after putting Burnley ahead. Photograph: Darren Staples/PA

From there it was all Barnes as the forward, whose goal-scoring form has been the equal of any in 2019, first took the ball on his chest and then, in the same move, smashed a low right-foot volley just inside Rui Patrício’s right‑hand post.

The goal summed up the Burnley performance, physical of course, but sharp, succinct and topped off with technical brio. Three minutes later a devilish cross into the Wolves box found Ben Mee at the far post and his header looped on to the bar, back off Bennett and finally off Patrício’s legs. Wood then found himself one on one with the Portuguese keeper but again those lengthy pins got in the way.

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The most impressive opening of all fell to Barnes at the start of the second half, a lightning attack that saw the striker poke the ball just the wrong side of the upright from a Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson cross before Bennett even knew what was happening.

It was a controlled, commanding performance from Burnley until the last. But not the very last, and both teams can take heart from the result.