Woeful defending v Cardiff - WW 2 Cardiff City 3

But it is difficult when you’re playing against 14 men instead of 10.

Maybe it was Brian Clough looking down and realising WW had not arranged a courteous minute’s silence before the match that got us, or maybe we just forgot to turn up again.

But, was the ref intimidated by the Cardiff players? It looked as though he would red card Lee for a deliberate elbow which took Mark Clyde out of the game, but he only showed yellow, later claiming not to know the rules (“it was accidental” - which is therefore not a card). Lee, of course, went on to score the second goal which gave Cardiff the upper hand early in the second half. On the Wolves site, Mark, fortunately without a broken nose, felt that Lee had looked for him before raising his elbow.

Of course, if the “assistant referee” knew the offside rule, we would already have been up and coasting, but disallowing Kenny’s excellent goal a few minutes after Carl Cort had equalised would certainly have changed the game.  We could have been 1 down in the first 30 seconds but for Lee being so surprised he couldn’t shoot. Didn’t take long though til the 11th minute when a cruel ricochet off Lowe caught Jonah out. At last the Wolves realised the game had started. A great through ball from Paul Ince, dummied by Carl Cort went to Ki-Hyeon Seol and he laid on an inch perfect pass for Carl to equalise a minute later. Carl, Olofinjana and Seol celebrate.

Half time came with Kenny Miller desparately trying to explain the offside rule to linesman Steans and ref Pike. “I was in my own half when he kicked the through ball...” he seemed to be saying. The linesmen offered him nothing in spite of the heavy handed Cardiff defence.  Captain Mainwaring probably had the best summary of Pike.

It’s still a great shame that Jonah got a bigger reception from the Cardiff suporters than he did from the Wolves fans. He did pull off some good saves, but couldn’t be faulted for the first goal - a lucky deflection off excellent debutante Keith Lowe, nor for the second when Naylor yet again failed miserably to defend a ball swinging in to the box. His flapping at the ball though, including the clearance which led to Kavanagh’s goal isn’t helping him. Lowe was substituted for Cameron to bolster midfield, although Olofinjana might have been the better one to come off.  He was great at winning the ball, but almost every pass went to a Cardiff shirt.

And we have to give Tony Warner, the Cardiff goalie, some credit for some great saves

The only thing the ref did right was to honour the crowd’s request not to give us a penalty!

The penalty of missed penalties  - Burnley 1 WW 1 Burnley go through on Pens

OK, so it’s back to concentrating on the league.

DJ said "We could not hit a barn door last night. When you have the amount of pressure and the amount of ball we had last night you should kill teams off." Just read Steve’s summary from the E&S in the article headlined “Wolves need a cure for bad case of spots” (Steve Marshall Express & Star 22nd Sept 2004)

Outside of the penalties, the good thing is that there were plemty of chances to win this game, and this was a better performance than a few weeks earlier at Turf Moor.

London Buses - 2 away wins come along together - Plymouth 1 WW 2

Another gritty away win. Lots of chances, and 107.7 sounded better than a count of 7 shots, with 2 on goal. Kenny had a few early on, and Newts had a great opportunity. not long before Gilbert go in behind the defence on the left by-line for Friio. Presumably DJ took Kenny off 5 minutes later to stop him taking the penalty, which Gilbert conceded when Coops was clear in the 75th.  (Actually Kenny had a hamstring strain.) Carl Cort stepped up and sent the Argyle keeper the wrong way. 2 minutes later and Coops was red carded for bringing Gilbert down.  He insists though, he got the ball. So, down to 10 men, and hanging on, when improving Craddock took a free kick, headed on by Carl, and Deano’s turn and left foot volley gave us six points out of six. So we’ve moved up to 15th, only 8 points off Wigan in the lead! Here, cortesy of VikingWolves.com (thanks  Dagmatt) is Deano’s celebration where the Wolves players “are in ecstasy” 5 minutes from the end of the match.

After the match the ref reviewed the video of Cooper’s challenge, decided it was inconclusive so stuck with his decision.

First away League win since April 2003 Brighton 0 WW 1

At last the away win.  It had been Norwich in April 2003 who were our last victims (not counting Reading in the playoffs in May), and it came against bogey team Brighton and ex-Wolves Manager, Mark McGhee.  Hi-Kyeon Seol started the move which led to Olofinjana’s cross and another great header for so far man-of-the -season, Kenny Miller who headed round from the right of the Brighton defender

 Had it, lost it, got it back  11 Sep - WW 3 Wigan 3

It’s that man again, a goal in each half and a missed penalty made Kenny Miller man of the match. His celebration for the second goal, just after the missed penalty, showed us how much he was up for it.  He brought us back into a match we had dominated for the first 20 minutes.  It marked Hi-Kyeon Seol’s excellent debut, playing on the left wing, rather than in the centre, as well as Carl Cort’s long awaited return.  “Wigan were clinging on for dear life” in the Sky commentary. Carl still looked a bit out of it, trying flicks to non-existent runners rather than the holding and lay off game he worked with Camara.  But, the strength and stamina are there and that bodes well. In those first 20 minutes, Joleon was getting into the box, and it was his through ball which put Kenny in.  Running straight at goal from 40 yards out, he had two defenders beaten and jinked the ball over the diving Filan.

Unfortunately Ellington was giving our defence problems, but Wigan’s captain left Seyi George standing to head home from a free kick. 3 minutes later a long clearance from Filan was headed out by Craddock to Ellington, Nails missed the tackle, and the number 9 scored a cracker from the 18 yard line.

We also saw our best corner of the season (or maybe two) - taken by ... Paul Ince!

The crowd’s ironic clapping for Jonah obviously upset DJ, rightly, since he was criticised for making a save - pushing an excellent Ellington free kick on to the post! Shortly afterwards Seyi George was pulled down in the box and Kenny stepped up to take the penalty.  Placing it to the goalie’s left he was despondent to see Filan save it.  But he redeemed himself shortly afterwards.  Coops came on and mesmerised Wigan’s left side defence, before an excellent cross which Kenny leapt at to head home in the 65th. His celebrations left us in no doubt how important that goal was to him.

Jona was unable to handle ex Wanderer/Baggie Jason Roberts’ penalty after he had been pulled down by Joleon, and Wigan thought they had done enough.  But, in the dying minutes DJ sent on Cameron, and in the first minute of extra time, a great chip over the defence by Newts put Colin clear on the left and his left-footed shot went under Filan for the equaliser.   There was even another chance for us to make another 4-3 in the next minute.

The inspired substitution - Cams and a great debut from Hi-Kyeon Seol

And DJ gave as good as he got in the interview with Matt Smith, who was trying not to ask a question about whether there was pressure on DJ. 

Match reports reflect the views of the individual contributor, and are not necessarily those of London Wolves.