Wulfs 4 Gornal Athletic 1

After two straight defeats, Wulfs, sponsored by Hydron Protective Coatings Limited, needed to show what they were made of when they entertained Gornal Athletic at the Brinsford Stadium.

Wulfs came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders at really had a go at their opponents in the opening ten minutes.

The pressure told in the 11th minute when Wulfs took a deserved lead.

Danny Tipton hit a quick clearance downfield for Chip Southern to chase on to and he drifted past his man before crossing into the middle where Dave Hayhurst stumbled as he controlled the ball but Andy Mitchell took over and rounded his man before firing past the keeper.

It got better still as Wulfs doubled their advantage two minutes later.

Stewart Mason intercepted a Gornal attack and carried the ball forward before finding Simon Hardle who laid a square pass across the edge of the box to Robbie Hubball who fired a shot into the top corner of then net.

Things then got a whole lot worse for Gornal around the midway point of the first half.

First John Richards limped off injured and then Andy Parsons was harshly sent off for a minor indiscretion.

If anything, these setbacks spurred Gornal on and they had their first decent spell of pressure, although Andy Mitchell did go close to making it three when his shot was blocked by advancing keeper Mark Vaughan.

Gornal did get back into the game five minutes from half time and it came as a gift as a back pass was missed by keeper Danny Tipton and Andy Price ran in behind him to gratefully roll in to the empty net.

Amazingly Gornal almost found an equaliser three minutes later.

Ashley Pountney made headway down the left flank before squaring a pass into the path of Dave Bate but his first time shot was well blocked by the outstretched foot of Danny Tipton.

Gornal opened up the second half in the same way as they had ended the first and went close four minutes in when a corner was headed out to the edge of the area where Andy Price controlled and hit a volley just past the post.

Gradually Wulfs began to retake control and went close when Chip Southern crossed in from the left and Simon Hardle volley goalwards but keeper Nark Vaughan was able to push wide for a corner.

From the resulting corner Oli Meanley glanced a header across the face of the goal and just wide.

While there was only one goal in it, Gornal were always capable of finding something on the break and it almost came in the 69th minute when substitute Michael Perks screwed a first time shot from the edge of the area wide of the post.

Immediately Wulfs Manager Pete Tipton made a double substitution bringing on Steve Rich and Ricky Anslow for Dave Hayhurst and Simon Hardle and within two minutes the two combined for Wulfs’ third goal.

Steve Rich picked up a pass from Stewart Mason before running at the heart of the Gornal defence and slipping a pass through to Ricky Anslow who out muscled a defender before slotting confidently past helpless keeper Mark Vaughan.

By now Liam Evans had replaced Andy Mitchell and he started the move for the fourth goal in the 87th minute when he fed a ball out to Robbie Hubball on the right.

He sent a ball across the area where Rick Anslow rounded his man and dragged a shot past the keeper but Steve Rich was on hand to make sure it went in before the retreating defender could clear.

Rich almost added a fifth two minutes later but this time he dragged his shot wide when clean through but it didn’t matter as Wulfs had bounced back from their two recent defeats with their best performance of the season.