Wolves 1 – 0 Sheffield Wednesday – Match Review

By: Toby | March 7th, 2009

Two away games, two clean sheets, two goals from Ebanks Blake and six points in the bag, could we have had a better afternoon? Well, yes, Birmingham could have lost, but hey, they’ve down to one fit senior striker now and Reading, well, they only drew. Which means….drum roll please….we can no longer be ousted from the top of the table after Reading catch up their games, as Reading have wasted their games in hand, and once they match our games played will be at a maximum of 69 points while we managed 70 in the same time period. So, crack out the Champagne then?

No, not quite, the problem still remains that we’re quite the one man team. Ebanks Blake seems to be a catalyst for everything which we produce at the moment, everything moves through him and once he’s off the pitch…we’re a little bit confused as to what to do with the ball. Keogh did well when he came on to replace him with fifteen minutes to go, however he doesn’t offer anywhere near the level of impact, nor does he possess the ability to turn a game. Which is exactly what Ebanks Blake did four minutes in. Good work from Kightly to beat his man and chip into the box with his left found Ebanks well with time and space to bury his header past a flailing Grant. Ah, at this point I’ll raise another problem, Kightly also limped off in the closing stages rather suspiciously holding his hamstring, I’ll update this as it develops.

A wonderful game for the neutral it was not, it was drab, only had a few chances and neither team really attacked with much gusto. Yet, it might well have been the most important game for Wolves this season. After having such a dreadful run the pressure was on Tuesday night to stop the rot, and today the pressure was even greater to try and build another run of results, we could have shirked it, wilted under the heat, however we did not. We rose our game, more importantly the defence defended. Good grief, bar Wayne Hennessey’s increasingly standard losses of judgement we were resolute in defence. If this is to be Jody Craddock’s swansong, it may well be his finest hour. As an artist himself, if he can continue his tutelage of Berra as he is at the moment, he may well turn the young Scotsman into his finest work. The young apprentice can learn a lot from Jody, we forget at times that he’s notched up nearly 450 professional games in his seventeen years in football, and if anyone knows the English game then it’s he. Berra is learning well, and is already maturing from that nervous lost kid with flashes of excellence into a total professional, dealing with attackers like petulant children, brushing them aside and winning everything in the air.

That’s where we won the battle today, the defence. The midfield for large portions of the game were competitive, it was great seeing Jones in the team again, purely because I feel him to be another player, who, like Ebanks Blake has the ability to change the game on it’s head, he’s got the ability to play that pass, that through ball which can totally unlock a defence. He wasn’t afraid to stick the boot in either, and his tackling was consistent and tough all game, he forged a fine partnership with Edwards, he’ll get another game to prove himself hopefully before Henry’s suspension is served, we’ll see if he can raise the bar.

So where do we go from here? In a quite literally sense, two home games against Ipswich and Charlton, two potential banana skins on one side of the coin, two very winnable games on the other. Only time will tell, but for now, sit back, enjoy the rest of your weekend (for a change!) and look at that beautiful, majestic Championship table. My oh my, I’ve not typed those words out for a while!

Highlights up tomorrow!

Tarra-a-bit!