A neutral view of the derby draw
Sunday 20th February 2011, 1:59PM GMT.
Todd Nash brings you a neutral view of the Black Country derby draw between Albion and Wolves.
As a Reading fan, I’ve never been fortunate enough to experience a real Black Country derby day before.
And with one of the biggest local rivalries in football between Albion and Wolves, I wasn’t going to be left disappointed.
Wolves are scrapping for their lives at the bottom of the Premier League, while Albion have been in freefall in recent weeks, leading to boss Roberto Di Matteo being replaced by Roy Hodgson.
With so much at stake, it was inevitable that it would be something of a scrappy game.
As one of the very few true neutrals in the ground, I felt that the game was very evenly matched – and that Albion truly deserved their stoppage time equaliser.
The Hawthorns shook to its very foundations as Carlos Vela stroked home his first goal for the club since signing on loan from Arsenal, becoming an instant Baggies hero.
It looked like the game was destined to be remembered for a moment of magic for another loan signing, this one wearing gold-and-black.
Jamie O’Hara’s first goal for Wolves was nothing short of spectacular, stroking home a first-time shot after Nenad Milijas’ teed up free-kick.
Whether he stays at the club after his loan spell from Tottenham finishes at the end of the season or not and, whether he does anything else during this spell, the midfielder will be remembered by Wolves fans for life after scoring a goal like that.
However, in truth, Wolves offered little else in an attacking sense, particularly in the second-half when the Baggies were all over them.
It’s early days in Roy Hodgson’s Albion career as boss, but there seemed a little more steel in the side already and they looked solid for most of the game.
It looked as though it wouldn’t be Albion’s day though, when Marc-Antoine Fortune managed not to connect from Peter Odemwingie’s pass when it looked easier to score.
But Carlos Vela’s equaliser was no less than they deserved and kept the bragging rights of the Black Country in safe-keeping – until the teams meet again at Molineux on May 8.
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Hardly an insightful contribution, my 2 year old could have done better.
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we just aint good enough tried to defend a lead instead of pushing on and trying to get another goal.just before the goal we went 2 5 at the back leaving the middfield short it just sends out a negitive message so on that thought i think we will be playing championship footy next season.
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“Wolves offered little else in an attacking sense, particularly in the second half.”
So the second half one-on-one from Jarvis doesn’t count???
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Albion will go down as they have a poor run in.
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You sure that you watched the game wolves controlled the first half with albion playing on the counter attack. Then second half wolves should have scored with jarvis and wba only had efforts from outside the area and messed up some easy chances.(fortune) Apart from the corner albion were pretty poor and is that how their new manager wants them to play sitting deep at home against teams around them in the league.
whats he gonna do against man u play the 11 men on the goal line.
wolves only played one winger and albion struggled to cope. what would of happened if hammil was on?
And please play fortune every week up front because he misses any more like today and your gonna really struggle to score
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I have to say that I expected Wolves fans to think they deserved the win and I’d be gutted too if my team conceded in stoppage time like that but then again Albion let 3 goals in against West Ham the previous week… so get over it.
The way I see it is, Wolves controlled the first half without actually doing much in front of goal. O’Hara’s strike was world class and I don’t think TWO keepers would’ve stopped that from finding the net. Albion seemed to create the more chances though and came close through Tamas, Dorrans and Fortune. In the second half the balance shifted to Albion and other than the Jarvis miss, Wolves very rarely threatened to get a second goal as Albion continued to miss whatever opportunities came their way. We had Fortune forgetting for a moment what the ball is actually there for when he watched it drift past his body when smack bang in the middle of the goal and Olsson was very unlucky with the header that was cleared very well off the line. Wolves seemed to be content just to get deeper and deeper and soak up whatever West Brom could throw at them and that led to our equaliser from super sub Vela.
At the end of the day, whether you score in the first minute or the very last minute a goal is a goal and I personally believe that the draw was a fair result in the end.
Oh and Ste (5), wasn’t it putting 11 men on the goal line that basically kept you lot up last season? You’re hardly the most attack minded lot yourselves as you proved yesterday. O’Hara is class though I’ll say that much.
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It was a poor game by Premier standards. Wolves tried to defend their lead but just failed to do so. Albion were determined and perhaps a bit more inventive but it wasnt good to watch,with so much at stake it was never going to be. I was left with the feeling however that this just isnt Wolves year,they really had to win this one and to come so close yet fail to do so could prove to be the first nail in their relegation coffin. Albion will be harder to beat than they have been but have a tough run in. It must be more likely than not that the next Black Country derby at the Hawthorns will be a Championship affair.
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3 yes that makes it get little. One shot on target in 90 mins? Not goimg to win many matches like. That.
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yesterday convinced me that we really do depend on mulumbu being fit in order to stay up. the first half was always going to be difficult as wolves had the extra man in midfield. o hara did look quality, but i feel he had the freedom of the park. you lot had your chance, but mick blew it. lets face it he regards beating us as a cup final, that’s why you parked the bus so to speak. oh and 5) ste, we’ve played man utd twice. i actually thought we looked quite solid. not pretty, but solid. 1-1 fair result, but if vela scored with 10 mins to go, there’d only have been one winner. boing boing. hope we have another prem derby next season.
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Wolves goal was class strike no ifs or buts about that,Albion defence looks more solid but that cutting edge going forward seemed to be lacking,on what i could see a draw was about right,poor game from two teams destined for the
championship.
Boing Boing
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Just because we wasn’t attacking doesn’t mean we were playing rubbish. Keeping deep and passing it deep although not the prettiest way of playing is exactly what we did against ManU Chelsea and ManC. This was Micks plan and it nearly worked.
The important thing is that we didn’t lose and everyone knew it. As well as getting points ourselves we will only survive if Albion or Blackpool (plus a few others) will drop points. Amid the disappointment we did exactly what we needed to do. We got a point and Albion lost 2 with note that its a point more then we would not have got in December. We are still only 3 points behind rather than 6.
Albion have nothing to be proud of. Yes you looked like you were dominating but if you were any better then those shots should have been in the back of the net. The only thing you achieved is stopping Wolves winning through a Championship style last grasp scrappy style. I’m still convinced you’ll go down and if Wolves go down with you so be it. We’ll be the ones to bounce back this time.
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Andy and Ste (3 and 5) are right to mention the second-half Jarvis chance, but you’d have to say that was against the run of play in the second half.
I thought that first half it was a fairly even game. I wouldn’t say Wolves controlled it as Ste does – the way I saw it Albion had the better of the chances, but lacked a cutting edge. Both teams looked pretty solid at the back and it would take a great goal to split them.
Albion were definitely the better side in the second half and were good value for their equaliser I thought. That said, Wolves were defending heroically at times – I think there was one point were Elokobi went absolutely flying into a block – and when you look at how long they held out for, they were unlucky not to win it.
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In my view Wolves should have been 2-0 up and game over but again, poor finishing was as much to blame as poor defending.
Why did Mick re-shuffle the defence at the end??? It almost looked like no-one closed him down on the edge of the box as a result of the confusion the sub caused.
Over all gutted to have been so close again. 9 points dropped now in injury time… A fluke or bad subs and tactics at to close games Mick???
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Well, the above comments just show how one-eyed most Wolves supporters are. Wolves had the first half-hour, mainly due to Albion standing off them, afraid to make a tackle. Albion then came into the game, but Wolves scored against the run of play due to a superb O’Hara strike. The one and only time throughout the match that Myhill had to do anything.
2nd half, Albion dominated. If we had anybody else up front than that moron Fortune we would have won convincingly. Olsson had one headed off the line and Hennessey did his best throughout to help us out, spiling the ball on a number of occasions. He was definitely the busier keeper by far.
All in all, a draw was a fair result. Full time, brilliant for the Albion fans after the obscene chants directed at them all through the games by Wolves ‘supporters’.
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Watched the game in my local yesterday and I have to say you’re both going down because there’s very little quality in either team. One thing though, all you Wolves fans are so one eyed it’s laughable! Albion were miles better than you and should have had 4 or 5! Yes Jarvis missed a sitter but so did Fortune, Olsson had one cleared off the line and Hennessy made a couple of great saves – Myhill had diddly squat to do. If I had to pick one to stay up it would be Albion because although their run in is tougher, Wolves are nail and only beat teams who have an off day. Shame, I would have liked to see all 4 West Mids teams in the Prem next year but oh well
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they(dings)are without doubt the worst team to grace the shrine this season,and that includes tipton lady`s aye boing boing
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dings can you please tell me who these easy games are against that youv got,aye boing boing
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Can’t believe it takes a villa fan (Villain, above)to show how deluded Wolves fans are.
I thought the albion were very poor, in fact I thought it was one of our worst displays of the season. We missed Mulumbu greatly and showed Wolves too much respect for a side bottom of the league.
However, thankfully the Wolves are also an extremley poor side. Despite us playing badly, they still only managed to create one chance (Jarvis’s). This against a defence that have conceded goals for fun, including 7 in the last 3 home games against bottom teams.
Albion created far more chances but were let down by shoddy finishing.Overall though we undoubtedly deserved at leat a draw, as all neutrals seem to be saying.
Overall I’m afraid I think the game just demonstrated that both sides will, and deserve to, get relegated.
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5 ste.
I’ve got to ask you the same question, were you at the match?
Two very poor teams on the day.
As for 15 Villain. It must be easy to be so critical from your lofty position. There may be only one West Mid team in the PL next season and if four went down, none.
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19 yes i was and it was poor but wolves are not much good away from home
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Yes we will go down cos we have a poor manager who is not premier quality but terry boggie your going down as well cos your a very poor team and look at the run in you have got
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Everyone keeps talking about albions run in! What about the wolves I personally think the wolves would be happy if they had albions run in, becasue the wolves have been shocking against lower placed teams. Yesterday just proved how poor wolves are you played great passing football with no end product. I feel sorry for your strikers we produced way more chances than you and yes on balance we deserved a draw.
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MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM TO THINGS THE IDIOTS IN THE WOLVES END THROWING FLARES IS THAT YOUR SEASON GOING UP IN SMOKE? THINK IT IS ANYWAY POINT YOU WOLVES ARE MISSING IS THIS BEATING MAN U WONT SAVE YOUR SEASON IF YOU HAD NOT HAD COCKED IT UP YESTERDAY I WOULD HAVE HELD MY HANDS UP AND SAID YES BAGGIES ALL OVER BAR THE SHOUTING AND THE OBEASE LADY IS T.C.P DEPENDANT AND HAVING SINGING LESSONS,.2-0 WIN SENDING US IN THE BOTTOM 3 MAD MICKS MIND GAMES WOULD HAVE WORKED AND YES WOLVES WOULD HAVE HAD A CHANCE OF STAYING UP,……..BUT WOLVES DID NOT WE CAME BACK AND YOU THREW AWAY THE BEST CHANCE YOU WILL HAVE,NOW ITS GAME ON AND LETS NOW SEE WHO HANDLES THE PRESSURE NOW WE HAVE NOT BEEN IN THE BOTTOM 3 SINCE THE START OF THE SEASON OK LONG WAY TO GO BUT YESTERDAY WAS LIKE A WIN FOR THE BAGGIES AND THINK ON THIS WOLVES FANS BOTH OUR FATE CAN BE DECIDED BEFORE ALBION COME TO YOUR PLAY GROUND
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MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM TO THINGS THE IDIOTS IN THE WOLVES END THROWING FLARES IS THAT YOUR SEASON GOING UP IN SMOKE? THINK IT IS ANYWAY POINT YOU WOLVES ARE MISSING IS THIS BEATING MAN U WONT SAVE YOUR SEASON IF YOU HAD NOT HAD COCKED IT UP YESTERDAY I WOULD HAVE HELD MY HANDS UP AND SAID YES BAGGIES ALL OVER BAR THE SHOUTING AND THE OBEASE LADY IS T.C.P DEPENDANT AND HAVING SINGING LESSONS,.2-0 WIN SENDING US IN THE BOTTOM 3 MAD MICKS MIND GAMES WOULD HAVE WORKED AND YES WOLVES WOULD HAVE HAD A CHANCE OF STAYING UP,……..BUT WOLVES DID NOT WE CAME BACK AND YOU THREW AWAY THE BEST CHANCE YOU WILL HAVE,NOW ITS GAME ON AND LETS NOW SEE WHO HANDLES THE PRESSURE NOW WE HAVE NOT BEEN IN THE BOTTOM 3 SINCE LIKE A WIN FOR THE BAGGIES BOTH OUR FUTURE WILL BE SORTED BEFORE ALBION GO TO WOLVES ….TAXI FOR MICK
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Watched the game on TV with a 50-50 mix of Wolves and Albion fans in peaceful mix of beer and good natured banter, and we pretty much all agreed that based on the display yesterday, both teams have had it, and that the ref was the best perfomer on the on the pitch.
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I feel sorry for WWFC – it can’t be nice to know that among your supporters are foul mouthed idiots who chant obscene words no decent person would use. I will not paint all Wolves supporters with the same brush, but I would be utterly ashamed if I heard the C-word used by Home supporters at the Hawthorns.
As for some of the comments here – what planet are some of you gold ‘n’ black on? You flatter to deceive – both teams lack quality.
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For me, that was simply a game of 2 halves (if you pardon the cliche). Wolves had the better of the first half though neither side created much going forward, Wolves scored a very classy goal from O’Hara’s free kick but that was as good as it got.
Albion dominated the second half with the exception of Jarvis’s chance which he made a complete mess of. However, our finishing was woeful, particularly Fortune’s, I have to say he doesn’t look up to it, would prefer to see Cox come in. Had we been more clinical, we’d have won comfortably.
I don’t think we are down yet, there were promising signs from us yesterday defensively so if we can keep fine tuning that I think we’ll be ok.
From Wolves’ point of view, they’re the worst team I’ve seen at the Hawthorns this season and they’re in big trouble.
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I think we are all a bit deluded to be honest. Both managers spent large parts of Monday defending the indefensible. Fortune did work hard but took the wrong option too often and capped it all off by missing an open goal. Jarvis ditto,though he was slightly exonerated by his goal line clearence. Hennessey dropped a straightforward ball and it led to a goal. Albion defended too deep first half,Wolves defended too deep second half,there was little quality on show,glimpses from Jarvis and O’Hara which were nullified soon as SEB came on and Albion thereafter dominated midfield. Glimpses too from Olsson and Dorrans for Albion but all in all,both bosses got their tactics wrong at some point and both sides missed chances which any self respecting Sunday League footballer would expect to put away.It was passionate yes but Premier League standard?? No way and I dont care what McCarthy or Hodgson say.
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