Mick McCarthy said after Saturday’s defeat at Spurs that people would look at the result, and assume Wolves had taken an expected spanking when it was far from it. Tonight’s game was the flip side of the coin.
Having been blessed with home draws against Second & First League teams, respectively, Wolves have stuttered through both games, one of which they should have lost, and the second in which they were five minutes away from losing.
Despite fielding a very strong, of all whom eleven had Premiership experience (five of whom are internationals) Wolves stuttered and spluttered their way through an unconvincing encounter and left manager Mick McCarthy with no choice but to throw on his fourteen million pound strike force to save the day.
Former Albion striker Lee Hughes, who served three years in prison for murdering someone by accident, opened the scoring just before the hour mark and saw it fit to pull his shirt above his head in front of the home crowd to show off an under shirt with ‘Boing Boing’ across it which appeared to have been written in a felt tip pen.
Wolves struggled though the second half, and it was not until the 83rd minute that Christophe Berra was pulled down in the area, earning the home side a late reprieve and a red card for defender Chilvers.
Nenad Milijias, one of few to impress, made no mistake from the spot to take the game into extra time.
Some would argue that County were a man down, some may suggest Wolves fitness proved vital, the sensible would recognize that with Doyle & Flethcer on the field together, the class shone through.
Doyle had a goal disallowed within a minute of extra time, but his cross two minutes later was converted by record signing Fletcher.
Doyle’s work was far from done, and after setting up Fletcher, who’s shot was saved, Doyle was on hand to steer home to rebound and push Wolves into a 3-1 lead.
Whilst most would assume the game was dead and buried by this point, Smith brought the score back to 3-2 just six minutes before the end of injury time, but Doyle lashed home a fourth for Wolves to end the dream for County and their star striker Lee Hughes.
Player Ratings
Hennesey (7)
Pulled off some decent saves but should enjoy the Cup games because I can not see him taking the jersey from MH
Halford (6)
Nothing wrong, nothing special. Can only assume he is getting games in a shop window format and I don’t envision clubs lining up to sign him come January.
Elokobi (6)
Gotta love George but getting caught a few times, he still has a long way to go.
Stearman (7)
Good all round performance but still looks suspect at times which remains a concern, especially considering the opposition, but that can be said for a lot of our players tonight.
Mouyokolo (7)
Good first outing. The promise is there and will only get better as he gets up to speed and is slowly given more game time.
Foley (7)
As reassuring as ever. Probably the most underrated player at the club.
Berra (7)
A fine return and won the penalty to save the game from a calamitous end.
Guedioura (7)
Proving to be a proper all rounder, full of tough tackling, and then darting past three players before unleashing a cracking effort that was well worth a goal. Young, hungry, fits the blueprint and will only get better.
Milijias (7)
Sterling performance in the midfield. His passing cannot be questioned- his fitness has been but he came through 120 minutes tonight and converted the penalty without breaking a sweat.
Ebanks Blake (6)
Possibly tried to hard to fight his way back into the starting eleven and was somewhat miss and hit. His early season antics however cannot be questioned.
Bent (6)
Has hardly been received by the fans with open arms and a goal would have done him good. Put in an honest days work without really making a significant impact.
Bia (6)
Guilty of a glaring miss. Was good to see him get an opportunity and he has talent but he is a long way off.
Fletcher (7)
Is proving that he doesn’t mess around in front of goal already. In my opinion he is still nowhere a 100% fit so what we have seen so far speaks for a very promising future.
Let’s face it- he won the game for us when we were back on the brink of trouble. Made one scored two in the space of half an hour. Say no more.
