Next Sunderland v WW Tuesday November 2nd  here

Gillingham 1 v WW 0 - Sat 30th October

So Seol got to play his proper position in the middle. We had 55% possession with Gillingham down to 10 players after Ian Cox had brought Coops down just outside the box in the 14th minute.  Within 4 minutes, though, Jarvis had scored for Gillingham, his first ever senior goal..

According to 107.7 The Wolf, we had no great use of the wings to Carl - although we had 25 crosses - leaving us mounting head on attacks just running up against the Gills brick wall.  On several occasions Gillingham threatened our back line. And they had 9 first choice players out.

Ince managed 3 minutes and one booking.

Against the bottom but one club!

WW 2 (Cort, 22, 70) v QPR 1 (Gallen 90) - Sat 23rd October

Two home wins in a row.  According to summariser Stuart Hall “bags of guts and a touch of class” (but coupled with underwater swimming).

And Paul Ince on the bench again, with DJ telling Mark Kennedy he should be the inspirational leader and we have our own Red Ken(ny).

Carl Cort put us one up with a good centre forward’s header to put Wolves one up from an excellent Kevin Cooper cross. What an impact Coops has had in his last 4 games!  Carl’s goal came only a minute after a slip in the water and a mix up with Oakes by the very impressive Bischoff nearly let Rowlands in. In the 69th he was again on target from a pass from Olofinjana.  In fact he could easily have scored our first hatrick since who knows when.

Carl had another chance on the half hour, but his close range shot hit the side netting. It was really encouraging to know he’s found the penalty area again instead of being stuck 30 yards out.  Even the Hoops own match report said they were wobbling at that time. But with 8 to go Gallen had a chance which Oakes parried well. Kenny was also put through but shot wide.

Kenny’s continued arguing after he’d been hacked down led to his dismissal (after his handball in the first half), led to a very tense last 20 minutes with Rangers trying to restore their excellent run. Gollum Holloway went away saying the match should have been abandoned, and that he was denied a stonewall penalty for Bircham from a push by Coops on the hour mark, which even DJ nearly agreed with. The replay showed a push and then his feet taking Bircham’s.  Bit lucky there then. Holloway thought the crowd had abused the ref in the first half, and that may have influenced it. Well done Moli!  Ollie was very complementary about Wolves, DJ, and especially Coops.  He said his scout had told him that Coops was one footed - and said “If that was a cross with his wrong foot, then I’d like to see what one’s like with his good foot.”

Into the 90th minute and a charging run from Rowlands was countered by a match winning save from Michael Oakes.  But, QPR came straight back and Gallen’s late 30 yard chip over Oakes added to the extra time pressure, but our ever improving defence held out.

sorry no photos, had to listen on 107.7 over the internet. Nice to hear their commentary come alive in the last 20!

Watch the highlights on the Championship (ITV 10:30 am Sunday) (Sky Sports 1 19:00 Sunday repeated)

WW 2 (Cooper 17 pen, 49) v Derby County  0 - Tues 19th October

Coops stepped up and blasted the penalty after Miller and Cameron had combined well to put Cams through only for Derby keeper Camp to bring Cams down.  Camp walked even before ref Dermot Gallagher could get the red card out.  Much of those first 16 minutes had been extensive Wolves pressure, with Cams’ first shot in the first minute and another cross in the second.

Cooper had been nominated the new penalty taker but was banned for the Forest Match

Here’s the way to do it. Sorry, my camera’s not fast enough to catch the ball - it’s the blur just above the E on the sign behind the goal.

And the South Bank managed a rousing chorus of “We’ve scored a penalty”. Funny match though, couldn’t hear the North Bank at all during the evening.

Derby went temporarily down to 9 men when Carl Cort unleashed a shot (has he really had none according to the E&S stats?) which was so hard it almost knocked Michael Johnson out.  He still looked groggy when clearing the ball behind in the 41st and was substituted at half time.

It sounded as though there was some stirring up going on with reports that Ince had stormed out when he was dropped. DJ said he wasn’t fit. But Cameron played as tough and active as he had at the peak of the promotion season - and we only had three survivors from the Millennium Stadium - Cams, plus Kenny and Captain Mark Kennedy.  Several times, the three of them combined to show the quality they have. Sparky was a bit profligate in his passing, as was Seol, but you could see that both were really trying things which a more agile forward line could have exploited. Kenny was very active, again frustrated, but had a hand in both goals - the pass to Cams for the penalty, and winning the free kick against Bolder 25 yards out from which Coops scored, just like that bloke who plays for Real Madrid. An outstanding free kick. He said afterwards “I had never scored a free-kick before and probably never will again...To see it go in the top corner was a great feeling as it gave us the two goal cushion to help us relax for the rest of the game.” DJ was disappointed that the crowd were calling for the team to get more stuck in.  Against a weak starting team then pulled down to 10 men, it should really have been a chance to (1) improve the goal difference (2) get into the habit of getting into the penalty area, take shots at goal..... It certainly had the crowd confused, and too quiet. A lucky Derby break might have had a devasting affect on the crowd’s support and the team’s morale. That lack of support has certainly helped Cardiff when they beat us.

In defence, another excellent performance by Keith Lowe. Michel Bischoff, too, looked very accomplished.  WE must hope Keegan doesn’t want him back too soon.  Craddock was better, with only two serious errors, one of whiche recovered, and Mark Kennedy is certainly repaying DJ’s confidence in him as a left back.  The team frequently used him as a fulchrum to build from, and, with better delivery would have had an oustanding game. Oakes looked calm and secure all match, and even came out of the penalty area to make clearances!

Amazingly Olofinjana made six consecutive passes to a gold shirt - and they were good ones - so maybe DJ has fixed his colour-blindness at last. And his partner in midfield, Colin Cameron, looked back to his excellent self. Seol, looked very aware for some of his crossing, although sometimes the results were a bit loose, and looked more dangerous when he started to cut into the middle.  He and Kennedy have a good budding understanding. Newts replaced him and looked as though he wanted to win his place back.

Poor old Roger calling in on “107.7 The Wolf” after the match couldn’t bring himself to name the the player who didn’t look as though he could be bothered.  But looking a yard short (or two given his reach) he was the second to be substituted. He and Kenny both missed a sitter from a Cooper cross through not stretching themselves

So, Kevin Cooper must get man-of-the-match.  Assured passing from left or right, spreading play, always available a fantastic free kick and HE’S SCORED A PENALTY.

Blunder of the match - the 107.7 team not being able to tell the difference between Miller and Cameron in the post match summary. (I’m not sure whether they made the same mistake at the time....forgot to switch it on.. there was so much action at the beginning.) Bring back last year’s team!

ps Sky’s matchday programme summariser said “there’s a penalty at Molineux, I hope it’s not for Wolves”, but for those of us there, that kick would have taken the replacement keeper through the back of the net. It certainly blew the roof off the stands.

Nottingham Forest 1 WW 0 - Friday 15th October - on Sky Sports

“ I think people just panic, don’t they? I think other people behind the scenes just panic. They’re the ones that panic.” So said “Prof” Neil Warnock summarising on Sky Sports with George Gavin speaking about the pressure put on DJ & the players by Jez Moxey’s statement last week. And then “If they’d been top Newton would have side footed it to the goalkeeper’s left” speaking about Newts’ penalty miss, our 5th out of 7.

The result on Friday night, taken with Saturday’s results, puts Wolves into the relegation zone for the first time this season. We’re 16 points off the lead, but only 10 off the play-offs.

So how much pressure did Moxey’s outburst last week (8th October) put on the team?  Did it lead to what DJ said about the team playing safety football instead of taking a chance?   Did he have any regrets which led to the “We want DJ to succeed statement today (16th Oct)? But the speculation is that - lose against Derby, and DJ gets the sack.

Wolves certainly didn’t seem to suffer at all from five changes from the West Ham match, and with Craddock not even in the squad.  Kenny’s 9th minute miss of a chance he would have nailed easily two seasons ago from a superb cross from Keith Andrews, after a great ball through from Carl Cort, sidefooting straight at the goalie when clear, helped pile on his frustration again. Which only helped the Forest players when he had a go at our players. He got two more chances, one well saved by Gerrard, and one blasted over. He did put the ball in the net, taking the ball off Gerrard while he was clearing the ball. Even though the ball was out of Gerrard’s hand, the interpretation of the law is that he’s allowed a clear kick at the ball without being tackled! Carl Cort was quiet, and easily controlled by  Morgan, Newts not able to retain the ball, and too many attacks just fizzled out. And Seol, a late traveller back from internationals, could make no impact when he replaced Lowe.

At the back, Joleon Lescott’s awareness, covering, and play was outstanding again, against two strong forwards.  Venturing forward, he looked as strong as the forwards most other Championship teams have fielded against us. Dane Mikkel Bischoff, on loan from Man City, had an impressive debut, Lowe played well again at right back, apart from being caught out by the goal.  A no-nonsense display by vice-captain Mark Kennedy who gave away no stupid free kicks on the left side emphasised showed Nayls he now has real competition at left back.  However, Sparky didn’t get as forward as much as he might, and his telling balls in from the left were virtually non-existent. Oakes made one excellent save from Rogers.

Generally, midfield competed well, although Colin Cameron was a somewhat quieter than usual replacement for a fatigued Paul Ince.

For the Forest goal, we failed to close down 13 passes - with only one attempt at a tackle from Incey, Rogers giving Keth Lowe a dilemma, having to cover both him and Reid, then Keith Andrews arriving late to close down the impressive Andy Reid’s turn inside. With Oakes rooted to the 4 yard spot it left a perfect space for Neil to aim at in the top corner.

Reid took Cooper down from behind in the box in the 55th minute. A great chance to take over the game. But, after Newts’ penalty miss the home crowd were lifted and so were the Forest players.  We never looked like penetrating their packed defence.  In spite of playing against 10 men for 36 minutes, the match stats say that we still only managed 44% possession, and only 3 shots on goal.

So the only high spot of the week is that Kelloggs Corn Flakes have adopted Jeff Beck’s “Hi Ho Silver Lining” for their latest tv advert.

One touch and Teddy’s away - West Ham 1 WW 0 October 2nd Boleyn Park So DJ dropped Jonah for Oakes, and the defence turned up A much better performance from the defence in this very tight match. It was the side that made a mistake who were going to lose.  One touch failing to trap the ball by Joleon, who otherwise had a good match, and Sherringham scores his 250th goal.   Oakes, for once in the match, having learnt that there the goalie is allowed outside the 6 yard box and having an excellent match, stayed rooted to the 6 yard line and couldn’t get across to a shot 4 feet inside the post. Surprisingly the travelling fans didn’t start calling for Matt Murray.  So Paul Ince’s return to West Ham, and where he was booed for the whole match, didn’t have the right ending. He did try two thunderbolt shots, one in the 15th and another just after Sherringham’s winner but they went high and wide. The best attempt was a great turn and shot from Kenny Miller which brought a fantastic save by the impressive Stephen Bywater off the post.  For the rest of the match though, he wasn’t really troubled with only 3 WW shots on target. At least the defence turned up, and given the intense pressure he was under throughout from the strong Marlon Harewood, Jody Craddock probably had his best game in a while. And Oakes was up to a great save from Davenport right in front of the Wolves fans. A muted chorus of “England’s Number 1” didn’t really get going though. So the club of the world cup winning trio got us again, but this was far far better than the performance them in the cup at Moli last season and against Cardiff last week. At least the police were welcoming....guarding the Bobby Moore statue