Romain Saiss equalised in the 85th minute as Wolves denied relegation-threatened Fulham a precious home victory in a 1-1 draw on Boxing Day.
Morocco midfielder Saiss bundled home at close range 11 minutes after Ryan Sessegnon had appeared to lift Claudio Ranieri's side to within a point of safety. It was instead forced to be satisfied with inching ahead of fellow struggler Huddersfield Town after squandering what would have been a second successive clean sheet in a faltering Premier League campaign.
The Cottagers went agonisingly close to snatching back the lead at the death when Aleksandar Mitrovic scrambled an effort towards goal, but Ryan Bennett's partial block enabled Conor Coady to clear off the line and earn Wolves a share of the spoils.
Though their appeals were muted, Nuno Espirito Santo's men should have received an early penalty when Saiss nodded Joao Moutinho's free-kick into Denis Odoi's raised arm. Mitrovic was proving a handful at the other end, threatening with a pair of headers and almost turning in Cyrus Christie's shot across the face of goal.
Referee Andre Marriner waved away claims for a handball against Matt Doherty amid those chances before Rui Patricio prevented Mitrovic from punishing a panicked Wolves defence.
The visitor was more composed after the interval and did much of the probing leading up to Sessegnon's 74th-minute strike, the substitute firing the loose ball in a crowded penalty area following a free-kick.
But the host failed to hang on in its bid for a third league victory as Ivan Cavaleiro found space to slide a low cross in from the left that Saiss tapped home, before Coady came to his team's rescue by clearing Serbia striker Mitrovic's goal-bound finish from Sergio Rico's long ball forward in the 90th minute.
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