Wolves 3 – 1 Watford – Match Review

By: Toby | January 31st, 2009

Well thank goodness for that, Wolves singlehandedly not only win a game, but score three goals, move 4 points ahead of Reading, 6 points ahead of Birmingham (It would have been 7 if it weren’t for another late late late goal) and actually look like they want to win a game again. Hennessey was outstanding at times, save after save from the big guy kept Wolves in control of this game while three goals from three strikers came at just the right time as Ebanks, Keogh and Vokes getting on the score sheet, creating more selection headaches for Mick McCarthy, but I’m sure these will be the kind he looks forward to. Oh, and Craddock played his first game in what seems like a very long time, and was seamless. What an afternoon, here’s how it panned out.

Wolves lined up thusly –

—————-Hennessey
Foley—Stearman—Craddock—Ward
Kightly—-Henry—-David Jones–Reid
———–Blake——-Keogh————–

Wolves went into this game knowing that their grip on the top of the league was loosening with every game that passed, with both Reading and Birmingham breathing down our necks we knew it’d have to be a performance of intent. They certainly went about that task with gusto in the opening few minutes, spraying in shots, Kightly looking particularly lively with Watford increasingly choosing to foul our men in order to stop their progression into their box. Kyel Reid looking very sharp early on, his pace and drive causing difficulties for the Watford defence. It was to be Reid’s corner which would lead to the first goal, nodded on by Stearman and then finished by Blake on the 23rd minute. Wolves had the lead, and yet the performance didn’t drop as it has done increasingly in the past, as you’ve always felt that if Wolves don’t score again straight away that they’re venerable to a counter attack. Wolves fans held their breath across the globe.

Indeed, we then had to wait until the 67th minute to let out that deep inhalation of breath, as Kightly fed the ball into the path of Keogh, who cooley guided the ball into the back of the net. Relief we thought! But no, this is Wolves, we wouldn’t want you to enjoy your afternoon too much they thought, so no, no clean sheet this week as Adrian Mariappa managed to make it interesting on 81 minutes, I say interesting, I mean terrifying, I could see tomorrow’s fan vitriol pouring out already. Luckily this only lasted for 9 minutes, before the joint substitutes Jarvis and Vokes managed to work their way past the Watford defence, to cement a victory, and add the kind of gloss to the game that we’ve not really had since…hmm, let me check my records…last time we scored three goals…that would be the 9th of December, against Derby, so thank goodness for that. It’s also a better result than in our first game against Watford, earlier this season where we also scored three, but conceded two.

So there we go, job done? Ship steadied? No, not quite, but we made massive steps to do so today, and a brief look at that wonderful Championship table would suggest that with sixteen games to go we lie top of the league, is there a better place to be?

Highlights up tomorrow!

Tarra-a-bit!