Wolves gained a fine win at Ewood Park on Sunday to put themselves back on the tails of the teams hunting for a play off place. It’s six games unbeaten now and the season appears to be back on track after a dodgy autumn.
In the absence of Sako due to the African Cup of Nations, James Henry was played on the left in an otherwise unchanged team;
Ikeme
Iorfa, Batth, Stearman, Hause
McDonald, Price
Van La Parra, Edwards, Henry
Dicko
An even start to the game but it’s Wolves who get the first shot on target as Dicko gets through on the right of the area and from a narrow angle, Blackburn keeper Steele has to block his shot at the near post. From the corner Danny Batth heads the ball back into the danger area but it’s scrambled clear. And after Hause wins another corner Batth flicks on at the near post to cause another scramble.
The home team finally create a chance after 24 minutes and Marshall should have done better than head just wide with the best chance so far. Blackburn were getting plenty of the ball and both full backs were doing well on the overlap, but Wolves looked more likely to break the deadlock and the home defence were struggling to cope with Danny Batth’s power in the air. He won another header from a corner that was headed off the line and then from the next dead ball he again headed across the box and Rovers had to survive another goalmouth scramble.
Just three minutes after the break Wolves were ahead. Excellent play from Dicko saw him cut in from the left and beat two defenders before slipping the ball through to Edwards who finished calmly with a low shot. The lead could have been short lived as a Rovers ball in from the right saw Stearman try to head the ball behind from the corner but instead sent the ball crashing against his own post for a lucky escape.
It was at this point of the game that Wolves were most missing Sako as the pressure started to build from Rovers and Wolves seemed to have no out ball. After some concerted attacks from Blackburn in which they failed to create any clear openings, it was the impressive Iorfa who took the bull by the horns and a fifty yard run ended with him being brought down just outside the Boackburn area. That lifted Wolves for a bit and Batth again went close with a header from a corner before Henry and Dicko did well to set up Edwards who shot wide. Then it’s Henry and Edwards setting up Dicko who shot came off the bar with Van La Parra unable to put in the rebound.
As the game went into the final stages it was all Bockburn though, and Ikeme did well to save from Conway. Late changes see Wolves replace Dicko with Doherty and then Ebanks Landell for Price and Wolves hung on for a fine three points.
Ikeme 7 – a couple of smart low saves late on
Iorfa 8 – what a find, some good defending and mazy runs forward
Batth 9 – Wolves best player on the day, solid defending and a constant danger when going forward for dead balls
Stearman 8 – playing well at the moment but had some luck when hitting his own post
Hause 7 – another very solid defensive display
McDonald 7 – a day for digging in in a crowded midfield but did well
Price 6 – not an easy day for being creative but fully deserving his recall to the team
Van La Parra 5 – didn’t make a great impact on the game today
Edwards 7 – took his goal well and had one of his best games of the season
Henry 8 – had a really good game, adapted to being on the left well and the source of many Wolves attacks and knocked in some dangerous corners
Dicko 8 – ran himself into the ground in another fine centre forward display
Wolves developed a good passing and possession game last season that saw them through the early part of this season too. But when teams sussed that out by closing us down in our own half the results were not coming in the autumn. But now a more pragmatic style has developed that maybe isn’t as attractive but is proving to be effective. And as Wolves climb up the table there will be few criticising the new approach.
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