Wolves kicked off, but suffered an early scare when Sedgewick skinned Irwin in our left back position and crossed to an unmarked Daws who headed high over the bar.

Rotherham seemed to be really up for the game and their hassling type of play showed why only Portsmouth had beaten them at Millmoor in the league. They were causing us problems, hassling us when we were in possession, and trying to play against our perceived weakness on the left side. Irwin and Edworthy both fluffed clearances when they should have done better, showing how pressurised the back four were. Murray puzzingly sent nearly all of his clearances and goal kicks straight out of play all game.

By not letting our defenders settle on the ball, Rotherham forced us into playing a long ball game early on. A long ball game is not very effective when you have forwards as small as Miller and Sturridge. In contrast Rotherham had plenty of chances early on.

Clyde, who was looking unusually rattled, slipped on the edge of the area, nearly letting on of their forwards through, but he managed to recover. Rae gave away a free kick on the edge of the area, which Rotherham took quickly. The ball went through the wall and just wide. Irwin was robbed by Sedgewick, but managed to win it back, and then a long ball fooled Clyde and let through a Rotherham player (Lee I think). Lescott stayed with him forcing him wide, but he still managed to get a deflected cross into the danger area which Murray somehow scrambled to Ince who booted clear.

Wolves were playing on the break, and when they managed to do so, they did look dangerous. Miller had our first shot at goal when he received the ball and created the room for a low shot from 25 yards which went just wide. The closest we came to a goal in the first half was when Edworthy sent over a perfect cross field ball from the right wing to Kennedy on the left wing. Kennedy whipped in a low cross which was met by Sturridge. His clipped-on header went agonisingly just over the bar.

Wolves were now being given more space to play, but Rotherham were still creating chances. A long ball fell to Monkhouse who should have done better, but was robbed by Edworthy.

The half ended with a nicely-positioned positioned free kick being touched to Kennedy (when it looked like it was being set up for Cooper). Unfortunately Kennedy's shot was easily smothered and another training ground routine went belly up. Half time came, and Wolves had weathered the storm, but still needed to step up a gear if they were going to break the deadlock.

HT Rotherham 0 Wolves 0

Ronnie Moore, the Rotherham manager, obviously had some words with his players at half time because they started the second half the way that they started the first - denying Wolves the time and space to play. In fact there were a couple of scrambles in the Wolves goalmouth right at the start of the half. One of these should have resulted in a Rotherham goal.

Rae gave away a free kick , just inside the Wolves half. The free kick was pumped from deep into the box. Murray came out in to a bunch of players to punch clear, but missed the ball, which broke clear to an un-marked Branston. Fortunately for Wolves Branston got himself into a pickle (sorry!), and, with the goal beckoning, he pumped the ball back across the goal, instead towards our goal where only Edworthy stood in the way. Luckily his cross was too high and danger was averted. Lescott had been caught by Murray when the latter missed the ball and, worryingly, lay on the floor for sometime after this incident. After a bit of treatment though he was OK. More long term damage seemed to have been caused to Murray who, presumably remembering how he had missed this cross, seemed hesitant to leave his line for subsequent crosses.

After about ten minutes of Rotherham pressure, Wolves forced themselves back into the game. Sturridge fell over on the edge of the area and was fortunate that the ref gave a foul. Irwin's brilliant free kick curled around the Rotherham wall and seemed a certain goal until it was matched by an excellent save from the Rotherham keeper, Pollit.

Then Cooper fed the ball to Kennedy in the area, but he was robbed just when he was setting himself up for a shot. The ball came back to Cooper whose shot was miscued well wide.

Cole came on in the 68th minute, for the ineffectual Miller rather than the injury-carrying Sturridge. Miller, who is too easily brushed off the ball, had not relished this physical encounter and had become more or less anonymous.

The introduction of Cole gave the Rotherham defence a new worry and seemed to unsettle them for a while. With his first touch Cole won a corner, and the corner resulted in some "header tennis" in the Rotherham box - the first time that Rotherham had been troubled by a cross the whole match.

A wonderful bit of skill by Lescott almost gave Cole a debut goal. Lescott tackled a Rotherham player on the half way line and, using Kennedy as a decoy, the young centre back stormed up the left wing, dodging four or five Rotherham defenders. Lescott crossed to Cole on the edge of the box, and the strikers shot was half blocked forcing Pollit into a fine save.

Unfortunately Wolves didn't capitalize on this period of pressure and Rotherham came back into the match. In fact Rotherham had the ball in the back of the net, but it was disallowed for a foul on Murray. Then a long throw was headed on by Swales, but his looping goal-bound header was plucked out of the air by Murray.

Towards the end of the match a backheader saw Sturridge steaming through on goal, only for a defender to get in the way and scramble the ball back to the goalie. It looked like a definite last-man foul to me, but the ref. didn't give it and - to be fair - Sturridge didn't complain too much so it could well have been a fair tackle. It is was very good if it was fair.

So the game fizzled out to provide Wolves with only their second 0-0 draw of the season (the last one being the opening also-televised match against Bradford). This was the first time since the late September loss against Leicester that Wolves had failed to score, but a least it keeps the unbeaten run going. Unfortunately though, this disappointing match, coupled with all the teams above us doing well earlier in the day, meant that Wolves slipped the eight in the table.

FT Rotherham 0 Wolves 0