Wolves Fans' Verdict v West Brom: Ugly scenes and an important win

Stephen Jackson

All the headlines will be about the crowd trouble. It was truly a disgrace and not something we want to be associated with. However, had there not been any crowd trouble, the headlines might focus on how we escaped with a lucky 2-0 victory in a derby where West Brom created more chances than us and at times, outplayed us!

Bitterly disappointed that we didn’t take the game to them, although I can understand Gary’s approach to set out their stall not to lose. But we looked well off the pace, gave away the ball needlessly, and neutrals may have wondered who was the Premier League team!

Toti was MOTM and didn’t put a foot wrong. Neto was lucky he scored because he didn’t do much otherwise. Doyle was superb but sloppy when there was no need. Everyone else was relatively average, the occasion clearly affecting performances.

The frustration for me continues to remain on the lack of a striker. Without a focal point we struggle to penetrate and do not have a marksman in the box to get on the end of balls into dangerous areas.

Everyone talks about the way Brighton run the club. Rightly so, as they’ve done very well. But we may want to take notice that our next cup opponents have three out-and-out strikers who have featured regularly: Welbeck, Pedro, and Ferguson. Maybe that’s more of the blueprint we should pay attention to if we are going to really kick on.

Rob Cartwright

This was not the greatest advert for the Black Country, both on and off the pitch.

I think West Brom have a lot to answer for regarding the off pitch developments.

When you allow season ticket holders to buy an additional two tickets (in order to sell out) you are asking for problems. They can only use one for themselves and tickets were freely available to those willing to pay the price!

How else were there so many Wolves supporters in the home sections?

How did Wolves supporters get into the Albion players’ family and friends section?

However, it was a rousing game, if you were lucky enough to be in the stadium.

Albion had the better of the opening exchanges, with two weak headers causing Sa no concerns. Other than that, they found it impossible to get through the highly organised back five. Dawson enjoyed his day back at The Hawthorns. Kilman and Toti were excellent too.

Wolves were a little overrun in midfield but were moving the ball patiently waiting to release a wide man to form a break. Neto, Cunha and Bellegarde were moving into the right spaces and making dangerous runs. We are still missing Hwang in the centre, but the goals were to come from wide positions.

Neto provided the first with a superb break, from a Albion corner. Doherty collected on the edge of our box and played Neto in on the half way line. He took the ball down the right side and into the box. Albion had got plenty of defenders back and just as we thought the chance had gone, he pulled a left foot shot back into the bottom corner. A fine goal.

Wolves looked comfortable from this point, with Albion hardly making a mark.

The concern was that Wolves would merely hold onto this lead to progress to the next round.

Cunha sealed victory with another run down the right, cutting in to score through their keepers legs. Victory was assured and Cunha celebrated as such.

Just as we thought we could now relax or enjoy the final 12 minutes all hell let loose, first in the far left corner, then in the opposite corner to our right. Little did we know we would wait 38 minutes for players to return to finish the game. I was concerned we would end up with an abandonment.