Coventry have only managed to win twice away from home this season, but they at least deserved some kind of reward against Wolves having enjoyed long spells of possession in the second half.
But Ward's 20th minute deflection into his own net proved to be decisive as Coventry crashed to their first defeat in four visits to Molineux.
As soon as the goal went in the writing was on the wall for Coventry as Wolves are making a habit of winning 1-0 this season.
This was their sixth success by that scoreline in 12 league games and set them up perfectly for Sunday's crunch local derby at arch-rivals West Bromwich Albion.
For all their possession, Coventry struggled to really carry a threat in attack despite ending the game with four strikers - Dele Adebola, Leon McKenzie, Kevin Kyle and Stern John - on the pitch.
But what little they could muster up front was ably dealt with by goalkeeper Matt Murray, while central defender Gary Breen was again outstanding at the heart of the defence.
Murray beat away McKenzie's close-range drive in the 62nd minute before smothering a header from Stephen Hughes at his near post seven minutes from time.
But Wolves should have been out of sight by then only for substitute Leon Clarke to squander two gift wrapped chances.
His 65th minute header was saved by Andy Marshall and then Clarke headed over the bar from three yards.
It all came down to the luckless former West Ham United central defender Ward inadvertently handing Wolves all three points.
Jemal Johnson set up the opening with a powerful run before feeding Rohan Ricketts on the left wing.
Ricketts' cross picked out Seyi Olofinjana, whose weak shot would have been comfortably dealt with by Marshall.
Unfortunately for Marshall, he was left flat-footed when the ball was deflected past him off Ward's right boot.
To their credit, Coventry did not allow the unfortunate nature of falling behind to affect them and they were unlucky not to be back on level terms by half-time.
The lively Jay Tabb, who had replaced the injured David McNamee after just 11 minutes, saw his shot deflected wide before Murray pulled off a smart save to keep out a goalbound drive from skipper Hughes.