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| Stockport 1 Wolves 4 23/02/2002 |
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| Report by Blue and Yellow Purple Wolf
Wolves top of the table, Stockport bottom without a win since November. There was only going to be one result today, wasn't there? But how many times have Wolves fallen at these kind of hurdles in the past? There were plenty of Wolves fans, probably more than Stockport fans. Certainly we seemed to be singing more, but then again we had more to be singing about. We dominated the early play without really penetrating. The only incident of note was a one-man pitch invasion, which saw the offender rugby tackled and chucked out. Then after fifteen minutes a Newton through ball set Blake through on goal. He was hauled down by one of their defenders, which deservedly earned the defender a red card. The ref consulted with the linesman and gave a penalty. Up stepped Sturridge to take the penalty. Just like his last penalty against Bradford, Sturridge gave a little faltering run up and slotted the ball home - this time in the left hand corner. 1-0 We continued to dominate and extended our lead on thirty minutes. From a succession of corners the ball came back to Kennedy who played in a an in-swinging cross which eluded everyone - including Lescott who stepped over it and probably distracted the keeper. 2-0 - surely the start of a rout? Blake had a shot saved and Muscat put one just wide. Wolves were coasting and even though there were a few lazy passes a Stockport goal didn't seem probable. However that's precisely what we got. A routine back pass wasn't dealt with well by Oakes and he delayed his clearance, so that when he did finally try to hoof the ball clear it hit the Stockport forward Beckett, who was trying to close him down. The ball fell fortuitously for Beckett but he still did quite well to turn the ball in from a tight angle. 2-1 Oh no, would the unthinkable happen? Then, just before half time, came the goal that restored the two-goal advantage. A simple corner in was defended poorly and Sturridge found himself un-marked three yards out with the ball at his feet. There was only going to be one outcome. 3-1 - thankfully a return of the two goal cushion. The second half was much like the first with Wolves strolling around on cruise control, seemingly certain that another breakthrough would come. Blake, Kennedy and finally Sturridge all didn't make the most of chances. Sturridge's miss in particular was as poor as it was surprising, with him slicing the ball wide from a Newton cross. As a kind of mock self-punishment he did some press ups on the penalty spot. Straight after he was subbed, which presumably means that Davey Jones didn't see the funny side. I think I agree with Jones - although its unlikely that promotion will come down to goal difference (unless W*** Brom keep scoring like they did yesterday) but how annoyed would you be if we didn't go up because of one goal? In any case we need to remain focused. As it was there was only one more goal left in this game - but what a goal! A cross was headed out by a Stockport defender and it fell to Kennedy who hit a swerving half-volley into the top right hand corner of the net. Brilliant goal and contender for goal of the season I assume. 4-1. There wasn't much else in the match, except missed chances, but how could anyone follow a goal like that? The rest of the results today - except for W*** Brom - were as good as we could have possibly hoped. Colin Lee has done us a great favour as Walsall's result means that if we beat Man City and do at least as good as them in our other results we will be champions. Dare we hope?....
Attendance: 8,481
Goals: Wolves: Sturridge (16 mins) (pen), Kennedy (28 mins), Sturridge (44 mins), Kennedy (72 mins) Stockport:Beckett (33 Mins) Best Player : Kennedy (4 votes) Sturridge (2 votes)
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