Wolves Back To Winning Ways

back with a goal
By J Bateman
October 20 2002

Wolves went away from The Brittania Stadium with a smug set of faces and should be very pleased with the way they played tonight. A great second half display capped a great victory 2-0 over there Staffordshire neighbours Stoke.

This game was billed as a must win game for Wolves and Dave Jones especially as he is under great pressure to get something from the dwindling season , he'll argue he's under no pressure at Wolves with the top brass giving him a vote of confidence, but under his thick skin he'll be as nervous about the game as everybody else associated with Wolves.

The opening 10 minutes were a little lacklustre with both teams struggling to come to terms and stamp there authority on procedings , a few chances went a begging from both sides early doors with Bjarni Gudjohnsson sneaking into the box but having the ball whipped off him by Joleon Lescott at the last moment.

Colin Cameron dragged a shot wide after good work by Shaun Newton , Wolves got lucky after a ball into the box was fumbled by Wolves keeper Matt Murray, and O Connor turnied and tried to lob Murray but the ball got deflected behind for a corner.

Wolves again survived going behind when a free kick was rolled across the box and was hit by Gudjohnsson only to be saved by Murray , Murray couldn't hold onto the shot and Andy Cooke nipped into squeeze it into the net but the linesman had already flagged for offside on Cooke.

Half Time Stoke 0 Wolves 0

Wolves had a cracking chance in the very first minutes of the second half , Newton grabbed Wolves a corner Alex Rae whipped it in and two Defenders missed it , it fell straight to Cameron who got under the shot and looped it high over the bar.

Wolves by now were well on top and Kenny Miller had a few chances from outside the box only to see both efforts easily saved by Neil Cutler.

Rae hit the side netting as Wolves were really piling the pressure on Stoke , the hosts finding it hard to string two passes together were really getting nervous.

Coming up to the last 10 minutes and Stoke were undone by a bit of Cameron magic ,he ginked in between two defenders got inside the box and with the aid of a slight deflection hit Wolves infront ,it was coming and Wolves had the lead they fully deserved.

Right at the end as the game was coming to it's conclusion Denis Irwin played a ball down the line to Blake , many people thought Blake would just run it into the corner to see time out ,but the Welshman cut inside two defenders and fired a great low drive into the net to seal Wolves the pionts.

Overall Wolves fully deserved the victory and a the lads showed just what that had , with Mark Clyde and Joleon Lescott solid as a rock at the back , Rae , Ince and Cameron bossing the midfield it was not a spectacular display but it was all that was needed against a very poor Stoke side.

Full Time Stoke 0 Wolves 2 (cameron 78 , blake 90)

  CITY: Cutler, Thomas, Clarke, Handyside, Shtaniuk, Gunnarsson, Gudjonsson (Goodfellow 72), Cooke, Hoekstra (Greenacre 83), O’Connor, Vandeurzen (Neal 90).
Unused subs: Viander, Henry.

  WOLVES: Murray, Edworthy, Irwin, Rae, Lescott, Clyde, Newton (Ndah 61), Ince, Miller (Sturridge 90), Blake, Cameron.
Unused subs: Oakes, Ingimarsson, Naylor.

Referee: M. Halsey.

Attendance: 16,885.