Cruise Control

Wolves cruised to their victory of the season, beating Norwich 2-0 at home, thanks to a first half display labelled the best of the season so far.

McCarthy’s men went into the fixture with both their promotion credentials and their commitment called into question, and gave their answer in a pulsating first 45 that had manager Mick McCarthy glowing afterwards.

‘There was some suggestion that we lacked passion and desire after the Hull game and that hurt because that’s not reflective of the club and how we play.’ he said. ‘I told the players that today’s performance is how we play – everybody bang at it. We played at a tempo that suits us.’

It was a tempo that Norwich simply couldn`t match.

McCarthy opted to make surprisingly few changes to the side that had capitulated against Hull City, bringing in Jody Craddock, Stephen Elliot for Neil Collins and Freddy Eastwood.

That faith was rewarded in the 23rd minute when Kevin Foley latched onto a poor defensive header to drive through the Norwich back line and rifle an unstoppable shot past Marshall.

Ten minutes Andy Keogh followed that spectacular effort up with one of his own.

Breaking out of defence, Stephen Ward found Andy Keogh on the half way line who raced to the edge of the Norwich penalty area and buried his low shot in Marshall`s bottom right corner.

Michael Kightly could have extended the lead even further when Seyi George Olofinjana put him through one on one, but his chipped effort sailed just wide.

Any hope Norwich had of clawing their way back into the match took a massive blow when Shackell was shown a straight red for a scything tackle on Karl Henry. They ended when Julian Brellier earned two yellows in a minute. One for a crashing tackle on Stephen Ward, the second for kicking the ball at Gray following the booking.

Unsurprisingly, Wolves played out the rest of the match in the same dominant manner they had started it, with Norwich taking until the last ten minutes to register a shot on goal, and a corner.
Wolves needed a big result, and they got it. Emphatic in scoreline and manner, personal battles were won, and three points secured that sees them rise back into the top half of the division.
Now McCarthy`s men have to concentrate on the weekends visit to Plymouth for another six pointer as the season finally starts to take shape for Mick McCarthy`s men.