Blackburn 1-2 Wolves Report

Today, Wolves won their first opening day since match for twelve months, beating Blackburn Rovers 2-1 thanks to goals from Stevens Fletcher and Ward.

- I wasn't really prepared for this match. I spent Wednesday and Thursday at Edgbaston watching England destroy India, and this game sort of snuck up on me. I'm still in cricket mode, spending much of the first half listening to TMS. But, a Wolves away win and England climbing to top of the Test rankings - does life get much better than this?

- The starting lineup was generally what we expected, with only the inclusion of Ward ahead of George Elokobi being a real surprise. Given Richard Stearman played at rightback, with Ronald Zubar not even on the bench, I can only assume the big Guadaloupian had picked up a knock. Kevin Foley had been a doubt earlier on in the week, but was able to make the bench, coming on at halftime for Stearman.

- Does anyone know who decides where the substitutes warm-up? After Kevin Doyle took a blow to the head early on, ending up with a Terry Butcher style bandage, Stefan Maierhoffer and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake were sent out to warm-up. They tried to run down the touchline towards the Wolves fans, but were sent back the other way by the assistant referee.

- When I was younger, I used to go and watch Kidderminster Harriers as it was easier to get to, cheaper and a neutral team in my group of friends. We always used to have a bet as to how many times the ball would be cleared out of the ground. I never thought I'd see that happen at a Premier League ground, but today Wayne Hennessey managed it. Admittedly it was a dead ball, and he didn't exactly hit it over the stand, but it was still a first for me.

- After those light observations, we'll get into the heavier stuff. Roger Johnson was making his competitive debut (as captain - does anyone know who the last Wolves player was to do that?) and so this was the first time many Wolves fans will have seen him. My first observation was that he likes to break the defensive ranks, looking perfectly happy to come 10 yards forwards to challenge for the ball. It will be interesting to see how his partnerships develop; if one defender is going to do this, the fullbacks have to pull slightly narrower and the other centreback needs to be ready to cover. Much work will have to be done on the training ground, and it will be extremely difficult for any defender who has not played alongside Johnson a huge amount to fit in. It was very noticeable last season how Birmingham City, and Johnson himself suffered after injury to Scott Dann, indicating how important it is for Johnson to play in a settled partnership.

- We all had a good laugh last season when Richard Stearman went arse over head against West Brom. But was that purely a practise for a career falling to the floor? If so, he needs a lot of work - his dive today was abysmal and thoroughly deserved the booking it received.

- Does Mick McCarthy read this website? I very much doubt it, but it was very good to see Ward go up for corners. He planted one header in the second half narrowly wide of the angle of post and bar, and his excellent finish for the winning goal shows the value in having him in and around the box at set pieces.

- Anyone who reads these regularly knows of the deep and meaningful love I have for Kevin Doyle. But, could he have a rival? Steven Fletcher was excellent today, scoring a thumping header and generally holding the ball up well. I am also backing him to score at least 8 six-yard box taps in this season. Twice today he was close to finishing off mis-directed shots, first from Matt Jarvis and later Jamie O'Hara, and he seems to have the predator's instinct that Doyle, for all his excellent and selfless work, is lacking.

- I wrote last week about how much Maierhoffer had impressed me, so it was no surprise to see him in the matchday squad. It was a slight surprise to see him introduced for Stephen Hunt late on, when defending a single goal lead away from home. I assume he was brought on to add height at Blackburn setpieces, but it seemed an unnecessarily attacking move considering the circumstances. Personally, I'd have withdrawn Doyle, or Fletcher, to a slightly more withdrawn role on the right and moved Hunt into the middle of the park. But, I'm not the manager, and never will be. Only one person's thoughts and decisions matter, and today they gained us an invaluable three points.

- And how important will those three points be? It was nice to see us compete and beat a team who will struggle this season, we did not do that enough last year. But, as far as I'm concerned, that is 3 points down, 37 to go. If we can average a point a game for the rest of the season, we will hit that magical 40 point mark.

- Finally, a few thoughts on Blackburn. I thought there was a distinct lack of width, aside from Junior Hoilett. Morten Gamst Pederson was tucked in on the left hand side, and Martin Olsson did not get forward as well as he normally does. I think Olsson is a very good player, who perhaps lacks defensively but gets forward extremely well. And I'm not sure how David Dunn got man of the match? While it was always going to go to a Blackburn player, Junior Hoilett was excellent, full of tricks and causing problems for whoever played at left back. It would not surprise me to see him included in an England squad in the next twelve months.