Wolves just about managed to get 3 more points against Brentford on Sunday to complete a positive run of results at the end of 2014. Its 10 points from the last 4 games of the year and that has got the club back on track in the top half of the table after a poor run of results.
Unsurprisingly Kenny Jackett retained the same starting eleven that won at Watford on Boxing Day;
Ikeme
Iorfa, Batth, Stearman, Hause
McDonald, Price
Van La Parra, Edwards, Sako
Dicko
The referee started the game on the wrong foot by giving Dicko offside after 4 minutes when the ball was played to him directly from a goal kick. Check the rule book ref! Immediately after that Carl Ikeme came to Wolves rescue with a fine low save to turn a Jota shot onto the post. Two minutes later the ref may well have got it wrong again as Dicko appeared to be offside as he latches on to a through ball and confidently strides forward and finishes to put Wolves ahead.
Wolves, despite having less of the possession almost doubled their lead midway through the first half when McDonald’s deflected shot is inches wide and from the resulting corner Sako has a shot deflected onto the bar.
The rest of the half largely belonged to the visitors with Pritchard going close with a header and then having a shot blocked. Then Stearman blocked a goalbound Jota shot and then Hause headed one off the line, before a misdirected Iorfa header was brilliantly turned over by Ikeme. Just before the break Wolves went close with a low fee kick well saved by visiting keeper Button.
The second half continued in a similar vein as the latter part of the first half with Brentford’s tidy passing giving them the majority of possession but in truth they were looking pretty toothless up front. Midway through the half Dicko who was tiring after his recent injury lay off was replaced by Henry with Van La Parra going up front. But it was the impressive Iorfa who next broke through on the right beating three Brentford players before winning a corner that lead to a goalmouth scramble before being cleared.
Brentford continued to dominate possession but Wolves were looking dangerous when they attacked mainly through the runs off the ball by Edwards and when he got away on the right he sent in an excellent cross that found the head of Van La Parra who headed against the bar with McDonald prodding back the rebound that found itself in the net with the keeper and defender seeming to get in each other’s way as they attempted to clear. Then followed another excellent run by Iorfa with his cross just eluding the players in the area.
Five minutes after his goal McDonald lunged in with a late challenge that earned him a second yellow card and a dismissal. It was the third successive game at Molineux where we had seen a sending off and as with the game against Bournemouth, Wolves retreated alarmingly to try to defend the game out by camping in their own area. With 5 minutes left Brentford scored the goal they probably deserved as a cross from the left deflected off Danny Batth and looped over Ikeme and in to the far corner.
As at Watford two days ago, Wolves had some narrow escapes in injury time, first when Ikeme made a fine save from an Odubajo drive and then when a far post header came back off the post.
Ikeme 7 – a couple of excellent saves and had no chance with the goal.
Iorfa 8 – I made him Wolves best player on the day and he looks a real find
Batth 7 – defending solidly again now after a few below par games
Stearman 7 – playing well on his return to the team with some fine blocks but did lose his man in the last minute and was grateful the header hit the woodwork
Hause 7 – another good game from the youngster and this was a game where the back 4 were the match winners
McDonald 6 – a goal and a red card and struggled to outdo a Brentford team that passed the ball well
Price 7 – fully justifying his return to the team
Van La Parra 6 – not his best game and surprisingly him and Sako swapped wings for large periods in a move that didn’t seem to suit either player.
Edwards 7 – his runs into the channels were an important part of Wolves troubling the visitors despite getting less possession
Sako 6 – one of his more erratic days but still went close to scoring on a couple of occasions
Dicko 7 – how Wolves miss him when he isn’t there, and took his goal well
Henry -a good cameo performance from the bench
Clarke – late sub for Van La Parra but made no impact
An edgy win for Wolves but one that their young and impressive back four certainly deserved. They are back in the right half of the table now and we wait to see what bearing the January transfer window and the African Cup of Nations have on their season.
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