Masters Wolves eye up title

Wolves' old-boys will be aiming for four in a row tonight when they kick off their defence of the Screwfix Masters crown in Birmingham.

The Gold and Black legends will attempt to land their fourth successive Midlands Masters title at the NIA this evening by seeing off the challenge from former stars of Villa, Albion and Birmingham. And success tonight live on Sky Sports 3 would give them a chance to defend the national crown that they won for the first time last year.

But there will be a new face in the Albion team with Bob Taylor back in the fray and Andy Johnson making his Masters debut.

The recently-retired Tommy Mooney will play in the Masters for the first time for Blues while Villa's squad will include Wolves' current fitness coach - former Villa Park flyer Tony Daley.

Wolves have been crowned kings of the Midlands every year since 2006 and former midfielder Phil Robinson, who returns to action tonight, said: "We find each year that the standard of the competition just gets higher.

"Seven years ago, when I first took part, the tempo wasn't that great. There was some nice, skilful football played but now there is a real tempo to the matches and a competitive edge. And as players we still love that. We still love being competitive and we still love to win. I don't think we will ever lose that.

"As a team we have played together for a few years now and we have good experience, because there are a few tricks to playing Masters football that you pick up over the years. But being together for so many years also means we have got a little bit older and every member of our team is over 40 now. There are always new, younger players and the Blues team this year looks very useful. But we are confident we have a good chance, using our Masters experience, to do well. The other reason we all love taking part is to catch up with old friends.

"It will be interesting for me, playing against Blues, whom I work for now as head of academy recruitment."

Tonight's squads for the Midlands Masters

Villa: Paul Crichton, Ian Taylor, Mark Draper, Bryan Small, Neil Cox, Hassan Kachloul, Tony Daley, Mark Kinsella, David Norton.

Wolves: Andy De Bont, Mick Gooding, Scott Taylor, Darren Roberts, Mark Burke, Andy Thompson, Michael Gilkes, Don Goodman, Phil Robinson.

Albion: Derek Dudley, Sean Flynn, Andy Johnson, Wayne Fereday, Ian Hamilton, Daryl Burgess, Kevin Donavan, Carl Heggs, Bob Taylor.

Blues: Kevin Poole, Martin O'Connor, Martin Grainger, Paul Devlin, Ian Clarkson, Graham Hyde, Tommy Mooney, Mark Cooper, Paul Barnes.