Year in review: October - December

The undoubted highlight was a 3-2 derby win at Villa. Wolves trailed 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining after a largely insipid performance but stunned their rivals with goals from Romain Saiss and Conor Coady before Ruben Neves fired home a deflected free-kick with virtually the last kick of the game.

Victory at Villa came after a 2-1 home win over Newcastle and was followed by a 1-1 draw with Leeds – where Wolves came within a whisker of making it four Premier League wins in a row.

The late derby drama ended up defining Villa’s month too. Dean Smith’s team had entered October with an opportunity to underline their European credentials when they visited Tottenham. But a 2-1 defeat in north London and the stunning collapse against Wolves completely altered their season’s momentum. Poor performances against Arsenal and West Ham made it four defeats on the spin and left Smith under increasing pressure at the end of the month.

Having gone through the first 10 mathces of the Championship season unbeaten, Albion suffered their first defeat of the campaign on October 1 when a Nick Powell goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at Stoke.

It proved to be very much a month of home comforts for Valerien Ismael’s side. Wins over Blues and Bristol City at The Hawthorns were offset by further defeats on the road at Swansea and Fulham as the Baggies lost ground on the latter and Bournemouth at the top of the table.

Walsall’s fortunes under Matt Taylor finally began to pick up through October as they finished the month unbeaten and even won a penalty shoot-out.

The latter came against Northampton in the Papa John’s Trophy following a 1-1 draw at the Banks’s. Elsewhere, there were league wins over Salford, Oldham and Sutton and draws against Exeter, Leyton Orient and Barrow as the Saddlers pulled away from the League Two relegation zone and into the relative comfort of mid-table.

The highlight of Shrewsbury’s month was a 4-1 home win over Cambridge United. Steve Cotterill’s men also defeated MK Dons on their own turf but away from home it was a different story as defeats at Bolton, Ipswich and Oxford ensured they remained at the wrong end of the League One table.

October began with Warwickshire following up their County Championship by hammering Lancashire at Lord’s to lift the Bob Willis Trophy.

In speedway, Wolves’ Premier League title bid ended with a disappointing semi-final defeat to Peterborough. Later in the month, Rory Schlein bid farewell to Monmore ahead of his return to Australia with a special meeting, won by British champion Danny King.

There was controversy, meanwhile, in the boxing ring as Lichfield’s Brad Foster lost his British and Commonwealth super bantamweight titles to Jason Cunningham.

Foster thought he had done enough to win the bout but all three judges at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena favoured Cunningham, the reigning European champion.