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Next match: Sat Dec 4th WW v Reading Sheffield Utd 3 v WW 3 (Olofinjana, Cort, Lescott)Sat 27th Bromby (28) : Olofinjana (7) Thirlwell (53) : Cort (50) Shaw (72) : Lescott (87) Wolves seemed to be on top for much of the match from the 107.7 commentary, especially in the first half. A 3rd minute miss by Carl who hit Paddy Kenny after a Sturridge shot was parried was followed up in the 9th minute by a cross from Cameron and Olofinjana running on to it scored. The Blades equalised after a corner through Bromby. Wolves had good pressure but couldn’t take a lead until the 5th minute of the second half, but the Blades equalised barely 2 minutes later again from a corner. They took the lead for the first time on 72 and a nervouse period went through to 3 minutes from the end when a free kick from Sparky, was nodded on by Carl to Joleon for the equaliser. Back to 19th as Coventry overtake us. Many of those trying to listen on the web couldn’t get on to Wolves World. WW 0 Coventry 1 12:30pm Saturday November 20th
Correction to the next paragraph (after seeing the goal replayed on Sky):.... Coventry hid the woodwork twice, Oakes pulled off two excellent saves, and one comparatively easy goal from McSheffrey sorted it. At half time, we thought “this is turning out a good match”, confident that goals would come, and surprised by Jody Craddock’s best match for ages. He was definitely not the pre-match fans’ choice but did very well. He made many more tackles, effectively than for a long time. Lowe again was good, apart from one poor pass, and, I’m afraid. not stopping Johnson getting the pass that led to the goal. He did have one goal saving “centre half” style of interception preventing Adebola who had burst through from getting his shot away. But his one bad pass compared very favourably with Seyi George Olfinjana who played only two passes to people wearing black shorts, and one was to the (excellent) ref Atkinson. Giving him the ball is consistently the same as giving it to the opposition. he had one shot saved, and blasted another wide. Kenny Miller still showed a lot of effort, and timing, although not as good as Wednesday for Scotland, but that’s partly the service he’s not getting from Cort and midfield. His through ball was deserving of a goal, which Cams put away, only to be ruled offside. That would have changed the match. Kenny also had one solo run but couldn’t beat the 5th defender, and a pass to Cort would have been better. An overhead kick ealy in the second half could also have made the difference.
Naylor had an ok first half, with very few mistakes, and some good runs forward, but again was lagging 40 yards behind play during Coventry attacks. He was replaced because of an injury by Kennedy at half time. Lescott wasn’t quite as commanding as usual, Keith Lowe also had a knock, and Seol came on for him, with an out-of-sorts Newton moved to right back. Cooper got around the park a lot, put in some great crosses, but they weren’t attacked by the ”strikeforce”. Well, a promising first half - promising of action, but we didn’t really threaten, although chances were created and we had much of the possession. But when Coventry scored - a mistake at right back and right half allowing a cross from Johnson to McSheffrey 8 yards out, with no one on the line to deny him - we really didn’t look like a team capable of scoring. Seol put in some better crosses, but still too close to the goalkeeper when no-one was close in, and Cameron was relatively quiet. Andrews marked his chance replacing Olofinjana with a pass equally as bad as Seyi George’s had been, but then couldn’t exert any influence. So, who was more tense - the crowd or the team. Thanks to “Rozza” on The-Wolf forum for this summary:
The tribute to Emlyn showed scenes from the League Cup win over Forest, although the attempt to follow the silence with “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was interrupted by the ref getting the game under way. Rotherham 1 WW 2 Saturday November 13th Back to the dizzy heights of 15th and only 8 off the playoff places after an early scare against the bottom club. Thanks to 107.7 Wolves World for a depressing first half.... “We could just see the goal coming” when Rotherham’s McIntosh scored from a corner in the 35th, although Wolves had had some good chances well saved by Pollitt in the Rotherham goal. Highlight of the first half then was the immaculately observed minute’s silence for Crazy Horse, ex Wolves and But with 7 attempts on target out of 15, and 18 crosses Wolves fought back and it seemed inevitable that a goal would come. With Kenny and Carl linking up for a cross to Coops who hammered it home from 30 yards out in the 69th. Ten minutes later Seol dazzled, passed to Carl who slotted in home from 6 yards out, 2-1, and 3 points, with even more chances coming in the last few minutes. Paul Ince wasn’t fit for the match and Mikkel Bischoff picked up a bad knock in the last few minutes from an off the ball knock to be substituted by Craddock. Stuart Gray also decided that Leon’s 4 goal performance in the reserves victory deserved recognition when he replaced Kenny in the 84th and had an excellent shot well saved. Seol had replaced Newts when he took a knock but who had an excellent chance with matching save early in the match. WW 2 (Cooper pen, Bischoff) v Notts Forest 1 (who else but Johnson) Saturday November 6th 3 much needed points in Stuart Gray’s How calm again is Coops for his penalty
Excellent pressure though, a great run from Kenny bringing a save from Paul Gerrard, who could only parry it to Newts whose shot hit the bar, then hit the bar before Louis-Jean headed it out. An outstanding corner from Captain Cameron, glanced in for the match winner by on loan Mikkel Bischoff. Mikkel apparently apologised for his first half performance, and also didn’t know how to celebrate his goal!
Other pix Cams fiddling the toss with Mathieu Louis-Jean, who was booked once but had three offences close together (including the penalty) and a less lenient ref might have shown him red. Two crunching tackles in the second half saw Evans (here) and Thompson booked within two minutes. Wolves sustained pressure in the second half saw shots raining in - here’s Kenny - the ball rebounded to Newts who drew a fine save, and then Joly had a clear headed chance.
Sunderland 3 v WW 1 - Tuesday November 2nd Just one change with Kenny coming back in for Seol and “Drive, determination, fight, playing for each other. Winning the 40:60 balls; best 45 minutes of the season....” - was this the Wolves of Gillingham? No, in the dark blue shirts, they were playing to their strengths with crosses, for the first half at least. A great run by Mikkel Bishoff, from his own box, a pacey run down the left, a one-two with Newts, passed via Carl and Kenny gets back onto the score sheet in the 18th minute. Newts, having an excellent game, made a great goalline clearance on 30minutes after Oakes was beaten as Sunderland push heavily for an equaliser, driving up the corner count during a period of strong pressure. A moment of panic on half time when Oakes dropped the ball, and then recovered for an excellent save from Elliott but we go in 0-1 up. The second half saw a lively start up front, with flick-ons from Carl to Kenny. A corner in the first minute came to nothing but Seyi George had a cracking shot in the 47th. Then it went pear-shaped. But in the 57th minute Liam Lawrence curled the ball from the left into the top right hand corner and Sunderland were level. 11 minutes later a Julio Arca pass and Stephen Elliott turned through 45 degrees volleying it in to the top left of the goal and we’re 2-1 down. Deano was brought on instead of Coops in the 75th. Not sure whether he actually touched the ball. Lawrence again - cross from right to left, Arca got round Lowe and Lawrence stabbed it home. 3-1. Ince brought on with 9 to go.... too late.
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The newspapers seemed to think “Grey day for Gray” was great journalistic style. Rubbish as it is, it was certainly more stylish than an abject attack, midfield and defensive second half display at ice cold Molineux. 900 Coventry fans made more noise than the supposed 25,000 Wolves fans. (I think this number was boosted by counting all the STH’s who didn’t turn up. Those must have been the singers who stayed away.) The match was preceeded by a minute’s silence in tribute to Wolves, Liverpool and England captain, Emlyn Hughes. The screens showed some Emlyn moments from the League Cup win against Nottingham Forest.
Craddock failed to get a tackle in on Johnson when the ball came in from the left wing. He backed off the tackle leaving Keith Lowe to handle Johnson. Instead of tracking McSheffrey he wandered back into no-man’s land between the goal post and Lowe, leaving McSheffrey totally unmarked and an easy slot home. Sorry for thinking he’d done better. The picture shows Johnson and MCSheffrey celebrating in front of their supporters in the Steve Bull Lower.
Cort still seemed a long way off the pace missing difficult chances to get into the box, and was easily handled by the much shorter Shaw and ex-Reading Adie Williams. Carl did have two cracking chances - early on with a through ball from Nayls dummied by Cameron but ended up with a nasty collision with the Sky Blues’ goalie Luke Steele. Both were down for some time. Perhaps this is what spoilt his game and without the second striker on the bench Gray was lef with little chance to change things. Later on, just before half time, he was wide on the left of the penalty area and unleased a cracker of a shot, but that was followed by McSheffrey’s strike on the post on half time. Following a foul by Adie Williams, Cams’ free kick broke to Newts in the edge of the box to the right and his great volley flashed just wide of the left post with Shearer well and truly beaten.
England captain and Rotherham player-manager Emlyn Hughes, following a rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
first home match in temporary charge following Dave Jones departure. In the first half of the first half Wolves and Forest were too evenly matched as not particularly good teams, no doubt because of nerves. A Kevin Cooper penalty should have calmed us down but the defence was still shaky and Forest deservedly got one back. Who else, but David Johnson with an overhead, as Nayls was pushed aside. At least the crowd didn’t go quiet, and kept behind the team (and Dave Jones but not Moxey or Gary Megson with choruses of Dave Jones Gold & Black Army (pity they weren’t singing this more for the previous few weeks) and some advice for Moxey about where to place Megson).
My man of the match - Captain Colin Cameron, for cheekily winning the toss, then keeping going all match. 3 poor passes, but some great corners, and great encouragment to the team. Runners up - Coops - for the penalty and for some surging crosses - but needed to get down the touchlines more - since that really worried Forest, and Keith Lowe, who really got a grip on the dangerous Andy Reid. He was well suported too by Newts helping out.
