Rotherham 5th in the league,unbeaten at home and with injuries, the 2nd round of the Worthington cup - can you guess the result before the kick off?
I wrote that first paragraph before the game, but never imagined what would happen!
There was little atmosphere before the kick off due largely to the small crowd and as suggested several key Wolves players were being "rested". Edworthy had his first start to the season, whilst the two "oldies" Ince and Irwin were on the bench.
Inside 5 mins, Wolves conceded one of their trade mark early goals as Rotherham showed Wolves why they are unbeaten at home by going 1-0 up, with the Wolves defence all at sea, a neft touch by one of them lot steered the ball past Murray. This proved to liven up Rotherham who went for the throat, with Wolves putting in another poor display. Murray had to look lively on 10 mins as Rotherham looked to increase their lead. As in previous games Wolves had little to offer, looked sloppy with no imagination or flair particularly in the final third of Rotherham's half. Not one of the overpaid bunch of losers wanted to take responsibility by changing anything.
Things changed on 42 mins when a Rotherham defender decided he wanted to make a game of it (as there was no contest up to this point) by pulling back Butler inside the area. Shaun Newton duly obliged by smashing home the resulting penalty. Almost immediately Rotherham swept forward again and forced a corner with Butler only just managing to get his head to it. Straight away Wolves ran clear with Miller winning the ball and putting in a perfect cross for Blake to crash the ball home. However it was disallowed as Newton was 5 miles offside!
Half time Rotherham 1 Wolves 1
The second half was much better from Wolves as they woke up and decided to seize the chance given back to them by Rotherham. On 50 mins another cross by Miller was again struck firmly by the left hoof of Blake which just missed the target. After another mix up in Wolves' defence which thankfully they messed up, Wolves went 2-1 up. Miller swept forward and tried to do a one-two with Blake, it failed but the ball fell kindly and (uncharacteristically of a Wolves player) Miller let fly with a tremendous thunderbolt which broke the back of the net. This seemed to rejuvenate Wolves who had spent far too long in their own half and they now actually looked like they wanted to play. With the midfield becoming more dominant, Miller was able to play more forward instead of having to go back and fetch the ball all the time. This suited Wolves, as they now started to play some good footy. Then on 70 mins it seemed to be game over as Blake knocked down an Iceman's pass for Rae to sweetly chip their keeper. 3-1 and Wolves looking rampant with confidence oozing that can only come from scoring goals. Ndah then went in the book for diving in the box and trying to get another penalty. Then the inevitable happened, with it all looking over a harmless cross was overtly handled by Blake, when there was no need to be so obvious and Robins converted the resulting penalty. This only got the meagre Rotherham barmy army going and their team sensed an equaliser, with the Wolves defence all over the place again and the rest of the team looking rather bedazzled by it all. With only 5 mins left a long throw caught everyone napping and a glancing header took the game into extra time. But even so this crazy game still had something as at last Naylor went on an excellent run past four defenders and almost the length of the field to grab a last minute corner. Unfortunately this came to nothing.
Full Time after 90 mins Rotherham 3 Wolves 3.
Extra time started with the rain pouring down and with only 3 mins gone Lescott was caught sleeping as he watched one of their players nick the ball off him and slot it home. It was even more bizarre as he thought one of their players was offside when he was the other side of the pitch and not interfering with play - yet another very poor goal to give away.
Wolves looked down and out with the team reverting the way the way they had played in the first half. A double substitution with Ince and Irwin coming on did nothing to wake up Davey Jones' motley cru. It seemed as though Wolves were just playing out time as they looked devoid of all hope and passion. Ince did manage to hit the inside of the post but for all intents and purposes Wolves looked very, very, very disappointing. Those well honed clichés - "lets concentrate on the league" and "Mickey Mouse cup" came to mind, before yet another twist came in the game. Rotherham obviously having the same kind of death wish and apathy that afflicts Wolves ( or were they just playing with us?), sent the game into penalties when one of them lot with time to spare when clearing in his own box managed to smash the ball into his own net when it was easier to kick it out. This was not deserved by Wolves as they never looked like scoring four again for the second successive Tuesday, the only way we were going to get back into it was by a gift - and what a gift.
Full Time after extra time Rotherham 4 Wolves 4
Penalties - We lost 4.2!!!
Can you believe that the two penalty takers in the main game both missed in the shoot out? Or that Irwin missed his also after so many scored for Man U.
A great game for a neutral, but for a Wolves fan enough is enough.
To be honest this was appalling from Wolves. Apart from Half an hour in the second half they couldn't compete against a team from division 9 in the Wolverhampton and District Sunday league.
What ever happened to the promise of last year, what ever happened to the hurt of last year. What about that ridiculous poster by the ring road ( can you remember what it said Newton and the rest of you layabout woolly backs). No fire, No commitment and hope, no imagination, no flair, no talent and no team play. What happened to the so called sports psychologist employed by Wolves - I suppose that he's another hopeless old crock, being paid £0000's and P***g it all up the wall.
There can only be one answer now and that is for Davey Jones to go - he has proved over again that he has not got what it takes in the form of changing tactics or being able to raise confidence in a dying team.
For all our sakes DJ GO! and take half this pile of c***p with you.
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