The hosts were given a presentable opportunity to take the lead with only five minutes played when Yerson Mosquera’s underhit backpass was latched onto by Yeremy Pino, but, despite Jose Sa being well off his line, the Spaniard’s effort cleared the crossbar.
The Eagles continued to dominate and again went close shortly before the quarter-hour mark when a corner found its way to Ismaila Sarr at the back post, but Hugo Bueno intervened to block the forward’s effort, which would have otherwise been a certain goal.
From this point, the visitors began to grow into the contest. Tolu Arokodare’s tame effort from just inside the area was easily gathered by Dean Henderson, before the Palace stopper got down low to push Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s free-kick from just outside the area behind.
Palace did continue to threaten, with Pino hitting the post with around 10 minutes of the first half remaining, but his team then conceded a penalty six minutes later when Adam Wharton brought down Mateus Mane inside the area.
However, Henderson was up to the challenge and denied Arokodare’s spot-kick, with Rob Edwards’ side missing the chance to add to their league-low one first-half goal away from home this season.
The second period took a while to spark into life, but just after the hour mark, the Old Gold were dealt a significant blow when defender Ladislav Krejci was shown a second yellow card for needlessly kicking the ball away, leaving his team facing an uphill battle for the remainder.
That should have given Oliver Glasner’s side extra impetus, but they continued to struggle offensively against a Wolves side which had lost eight of their last 11 league games in London.
Prior to this clash, Edwards’ men had also shipped 50 goals in the PL this term, and although they had dug in admirably, their resolve was broken once more in the final minute of normal time when Guessand’s close-range shot beat Sa to send the home supporters wild.
This last-gasp victory saw Palace end their eight-game winless run at home as they climbed one place to 13th and opened up a 10-point gap to the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, a dejected Wolves side are now winless in their last 16 league away outings, and despite this much-improved display, they now sit 19 points adrift of safety with just 10 games left to play.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Evann Guessand (Crystal Palace)