Wolves penalty hero Wayne Hennessey paid tribute to his “heroic” back four after making the save that preserved a point for Mick McCarthy’s men at The Hawthorns.
The Wales goalkeeper made a fine stop to prevent Zoltan Gera from stealing the points for Albion in the late stages – just reward for a stout defensive performance from the visitors.
Hennessey took the plaudits for his spot-kick save and another fingertip effort to stop Felipe Teixera giving Albion the lead – but he was happy to share the praise around the back four.
“Our defence is superb and they proved it at The Hawthorns – it’s great to have that experience in front of you. They’re a great team with great players and they’ve scored against virtually everyone else this season, so to get a point and a clean sheet was absolutely fantastic, but it doesn’t surprise me with our defence.
“The four we’ve got at the moment work very well – there are good combinations there. They’ve been tremendous to me and helped me out so much.
“Jody (Craddock) is a fantastic player too – he’s the type of guy you love to have playing in front of you all the time. I’m delighted he’s back with us. He’s very comfortable.”
Hennessey’s penalty save brought the game to a dramatic climax and wrote the young Welshman’s name into Black Country derby folklore.
He admitted it was the high point of his young career and said it was “special” to hear his name chanted by the away fans.
“It was the best moment of my career, definitely. It was the first penalty I’ve saved since the junior days and it felt amazing,” he said.
“It’s a big game and we got a point from it, so we’re over the moon. The dressing room is buzzing and I’m delighted. It’s a great point.
“There was no big secret or anything – I just watched his run-up.
“I knew where he was going because of his run and he looked like he was going to come back on himself. I dived and luckily saved it. Thankfully the rebound didn’t bounce too kindly for him either.
“The save from Teixera took a deflection off one of our players and I managed to tip it on to the post. It goes down as a save, so I’m delighted.
“It was the first time that the fans have sung my name – I’m delighted about that. They were great all day and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It was a great feeling.”
Hennessey admits the derby game atmosphere – and The Hawthorns in particular – has brought the best out of him so far in his career.
It provided the back-drop to one of his first appearances for Wolves but that paled into insignificance after his match-saving display yesterday.
“The Hawthorns has been a bit of a happy hunting ground for me. I started here in the play-offs and it feels fantastic to be here again,” he said.
“I enjoy the atmosphere of the big games like the derby games. These are the games you want to play in – there’s a fantastic crowd and you’re playing with and against good players, too.”
34 Comments
Hennessey! Hennessey!
Our back four is average at best and needs reinforcements. The only reason we don’t let many in is that Mick plays the whole team has one defensive unit.
We may not let in many goals but we also don’t score many.
offer him another 4 years before Everton bid to steal him off us for the price of a bag of pork scratchings.
Well done Wayne.
wolves wolves…check the statistical information about our back 4 before making silly statements…you’ll find their performance on goals conceeded is WELL above average, and whilst we can always strengthen the back 4, currently they are not underperforming as a unit, the facts contradict your assessment.
praise where praise is due…we have a fantistic defence.
wolveswolves (2) your negativity is absolutely amazing!
The free-scoring Tescos actually changed their formation yesterday to try and counter us. MM realised this very quickly and made tactical cahnges to our line-up.
MM knows his stuff and will do what’s right!
You should ensure your Mommy keeps the knife drawer locked!
wolveswolves I can’t get over your negative attitude towards the team. Get a grip and follow the team with passion. Well done wolves.
I thought Jody Craddock had a tremendous game for you guys. Not sure if Breen should get straight back in but thats for MM to decide.
I do think it would have been different if we had our first choice attack playing, but it was the same side that put 3 past watford and 4 past cov so you have to take alot of credit for stopping us.
I hope we can both go forward now and take the two automatic places.
Cheers Happy, I also hope both sides can go up automatically.
I’m not sure about Breen either. Normally you don’t change a sucessful defensive line-up, but Breen is the first choice captain so it will be interesting to see what MM does.
Thank you happy-baggie !!
thats a nice comment ! (im not kidding)
all i got today was me mates takin the p !! and slaggin wolves off !
but i agree that we have both improved and that we both merit premiership football !
well done wayne ! well done wolves ! good luck kevin phillips and ismael miller on your injuries !!
Happy… You are bang on about one thing mate…
McCarthy to decide whether Breen gets straight back in… Of Course he will put him stright back in he is one of micks adversities and he will drop Ward who I think is growing in stature alongside Craddock… Im not knocking Breen cause I think that he is superb but I have said for a while that he needs to play either breen or Craddock plus one other…
Cant believe that colins has given away another penalty either… Have a word Mick…
we are not scoring enough, its ok to have a good defence but if we dont score we are going nowhere, sort it out mick, not good enough!
Its not negativity, it’s just an honest assesment. We don’t let many goals in becuase we play defensively as a team, because of that we don’t score many goals. This maybe our weakness when we are playing the weaker teams in the league
hennessey for england oh poo hes welsh oh well we still have ummm. ummmmm robinson oh dear!
Well said Happy_Baggie.
Hennessey.. Hennessey..
Cheers Happy. Would be nice to be having these derby days in the prem. I nearly cried when we conceded the penalty as I had my negative head on but fair play to hennessey. By the way, where’s nathan 10-3 today?
Happy_Baggie - totally agree!
Craddock was first class - thank god MM saw the light and got him back from Stoke!
I believe both clubs have got more than a good chance of being right there in the shake-up at the end of the season!
Once we get Gray fit the back four will be formidable. At least now McCarthy knows why we all kicked up a fuss about Craddock, glad he’s taken his chance, he’s been awesome! We just have to win on Wednesday now…
wolveswolves (12) it is negativity whatever way you try na ddress it up (who’s “honest assessment?”)
Trust in MM
With pantomime season just around the corner,
the producers of Christmas Carol
should be auditioning Wolves entire
defence for the role of Ebenezer
Scrooge.
I`m not being facetious, but to limit a very potent attack to a paltry few chances, speaks volumes
for the way they are set up.
The boys dun gud.
Dont know about anyone else,
but i`m glad this fixture is finaly
out of the way,
so we can both concentrate on the big issue of going forward.
Good luck Wulfies
I agree with Wolveswolves, that we do tend to sit back covering the back four. This does limit our attacking options, ie we have to attack on the break.
Getting a proper left back in will help no-end. I can’t remember Neil Collins overlapping once yet this season. The right side is fine with Kites and Foley in great form.
lets all be on our feet wednesday night and let hennessey know grateul we are for that save…it made my journey back to cornwall almost enjoyable and my journey up again on wednesday something to look forward to even more..HENNESSEY HENNESSEY HENNESSEY
lets all be on our feet wednesday night and let hennessey know just how much that save meant to us..it made my journey back to cornwall almost enjoyable and it will make my journey back up on wednesday even better…HENNESSEY HENNESSEY HENNESSEY
Start to panic WBAforever, the E and S will start the build up to the return in about two weeks
Wow! Good spirit between the two sets of fans. it’s refreshing. Well done to all!!!!
Up the Wolves.
Afraid only able to listen to match on Beacon but sounded like we more than matched them and in fact had the best two chances of thbe game. Going in the right direction under Mick. Does anyone else agree with me that we probably have the best set of goalkeepers in the country? Has anyone any news on Kites’ injury?
Great result
The boys did well. We need to build on that and improve even more.
As for saying the defence is fantastic, pull the other one. Craddock has made the difference and is starting to forge a partnership with Ward which is great and long may it continue.
Sadly though it will not and MM will make an almighty clanger by replacing ward with Breen.
Mark my words it will happen and MM even said in a interview that Breen is showing the way in recovering from injury.
We need to score goals as well, we dont get enough and i can see this season turning into draw after draw after draw.
Hopefully we can win our home games.
C’Mon you Wolves, Keep the Faith
good game seeing all the injuries
good save in the last minute by HENNESSY!!yay
wished we could of been there
up the wolves!!
as a mad albion fan it hurts to say this but i thought that hennessy had a terrific game and looked incredibly like murray (in perfromance!!) but lets be honest we all know that you cant go up without scoring goals and from what i saw of eastwood bothroyd and elliot none of them look like bangin in the goals that you need. if you did have that you would be there of there abouts at the end of season
back on to the albion once again disappointed with the hawthorns crowd yes good attendance but in second half no atmosphere?!?1 away from home one of the best in the league but needs to improve at home!!!
cumon u baggies!!!
he was just lucky,:-)boing boing
With chances few and far between, Craddock’s header against the post,gibsons free-kick, Oli hitting the side neting and his free header..A very enjoyable afternoon, and journey back to Leeds.Give wayne a great welcome Wednesday..Until Barnsley for me.
Hope its Eastwood / Bothroyd, keep the faith..This division is a battlefield. Attack Attack Attack…
THE DINGLES CUP FINAL.
w.b.a 0-0 wolves.
Well done!!!!
MM or WH ? It’s no contest.
Matt is the best English keeper by far, but has no chance of playing for England unless he is with a premier club. But he gets injured too easily & too often & takes far too long to recover.
Wayne is his equal.He is years younger. He rarely gets injured but recovers quickly if he does.
Get Matt fit & ship him out to the premier for big bucks. Let someone else buy our crocks for a change instead of the other way round.
Wayne is W W 1
Wolves & Wales No.1
Nathan surely you know cup finals are played on neutral grounds…… actually you probably don’t know, sorry.
our back four is the best in league but we need help up front