Wolves Fans' Verdict v Reading: We earned that

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? Not at our best, two fabulous goals, mostly comfortable but with a couple of scares,

Three more points, still top of the league and a cracking disco outside the ground!

It’s performances like this one that win championships. The fact that hardly any of the 4,000 fans left the stand until the last Wolves player had left the pitch is a mark of the pride felt.

We started the game on the back foot, mainly due to a couple of early judgement errors by Ruddy. On another day, we could have been two down in 15 minutes. He more than made up for those in the second half though.

Cavaleiro then got into the game and completely mesmerised the Reading midfield and defenders for the next half hour. His best period in a Wolves shirt, I think.

The defence splitting ball through to him, by Jota, was a perfect 10/10; so was Cavaleiro’s finish, as he sent the keeper outside for a fag break and slotted into the empty net. Quality.

We were comfortable for the next half hour, allowing Reading the ball in the knowledge that there was no way they were getting past Boly, or Coady for that matter. Chances were few and far between for both teams.

The second half continued in similar vein, until Bonatini was replaced by Bright with 18 minutes remaining. Wolves shape now changed and Bright’s inability to hold the ball gave the initiative to Reading. There were a few nerves showing, unnecessarily, as we know that when Bennett plays we don’t concede.

Step forward John Ruddy. Two magnificent saves. One with right hand, followed by another with right foot. Two minutes later we sealed the victory with some great link up play between Costa and Doherty. Doherty found himself with enough room in the box to turn and shoot; enough room for Brian Law to turn his bus, in fact.

Cue the “party” which lasted half an hour in the stands and another half an hour outside the ground...“let’s all have a disco”.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? This was another great team effort, with no single stand out player. Boly, Coady, Vinagre, Cavaleiro and Doherty all did well. Even Costa in his 10 minute cameo showed signs of his player of the season form and created the second goal with his run.

Ruddy had a great second half. Bennett is the unsung hero of the defence. My man of the match goes to Boly. If he stays fit, we go up. Simples.

We welcome Leeds next. You can’t beat a midweek sell-out under the lights at Molineux. It should be an absolute cracker.

Natalie Wood

What's your verdict on the match? “Let’s just see if these Portuguese Wolves players can produce on a cold day in November”...well yesterday we got our answer...they kind of can!

Reading are a good side and their position in the table certainly does not tell the whole story. They are a quick, physical team that appeared to catch Wolves off guard. From the start they were pressing and pushing forward which really stifled our normal game plan.

To be honest I’m not really sure how we weren’t behind – Ruddy looked especially shaky in the first half and Wolves as a whole package just looked in shock.

However the thing I love about us this year is we only really need that one bit of brilliance to turn the game around and our first goal was just that. Some excellent build up play from Jota followed by one of the calmest finishes by Cav I have ever seen by a player in a Wolves shirt. The rest of the first half, while it was still a bit manic on our part, we felt more in control and more bits of the class we have been used to came out.

My prediction at half time was Reading to be all over us but to nick a goal against the run of play towards the end....I should be a football pundit. The Royals were relentless, they pressed hard and for long spells we didn’t have a single player out of our own half.

I’ll be honest I’m not the biggest John Ruddy fan, his positioning can be really off at times and he doesn’t always feel as commanding in the box as you would like but yesterday after a shocking first half he really pulled it out the bag in the second. A few magnificent saves to keep us ahead including the one hand save from Barrow towards the end.

They always say when you are at the top all the luck goes your way and that is how yesterday’s game felt. I don’t think there will be many fans that left the Madejski feeling that we fully deserved a win but every win is another step closer!

I also take a lot of reassurance that while it wasn’t the prettiest football we have seen all season there is a work ethic and belief from the players that could see us through the next few tough weeks of winter.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? I wouldn’t say anyone had an awful game but there were a lot of mediocre performances.

Aside from Ruddy in the second half I think Boly played well – really commanding and powerful at the back, Cav was excellent after seemingly drifting a bit into the background compared to Jota and Neves recently, he came back with a bang, his distribution was excellent and his goal was just perfect.

However the standout for me would be Matt Doherty. He is really becoming an excellent player this year, strong at the back and impactful at the front. He worked continuously, took risks, read the game well and had a well deserved goal at the end from a wonderful move by him and Costa.

Russ Evers (Hatherton Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? So two degrees, pitch black, driving rain and mid November...that’ll stop ‘em. Wrong!

For all of the possession and intent that Reading showed – and to their credit, it was a lot on both counts – this game was won on five or six team moments as Nuno calls them and some individual brilliance.

The moves for both of our goals were sublime and superbly finished by Cavaleiro and Doherty. And the lead was preserved thanks to some heroic block defending and ultimately two or three world class saves by John Ruddy.

So back to the top we go and wont it be nice to remind dirty Leeds of that fact on Wednesday.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? No one had a poor game with effort shown throughout but Coady led the defence brilliantly and ultimately Ruddy sealed it. Looking good ay it.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match? Another three points, clean sheet and a scoreline of 2-0, something that’s becoming a little bit familiar this season. Much better than the 0-0’s we were used to a couple of seasons ago.

Not the best performance you’ll see this season but two classy goals from our point of view. We rode our luck at times, especially late on but sometimes you need your back line and goalkeeper to come up clutch and win you points and that’s exactly how it was yesterday.

There’s been plenty of games where Ruddy has had literally nothing to do but yesterday when called upon in the big moments he saved us even though he did have a very shaky start. When Bodvarsson came on it was like playing 11 v 10, I know we all go on about ex players scoring past us but that guy just stands outside the box and offers very little.

Good reception for Dave Edwards which was probably deserved given his time at the club, nice guy but poor footballing ability. Imagine receiving a good reception like that from your former fans, you obviously want to try prove a point and then the first touch you get, you pass it straight out for a throw in. There will still be some fans who think he’s good enough for our midfield though.

I don’t know what it is with bald managers being salty against us, first it was Pep about the ball and now Jaap Stam saying we won’t go up and whenever we win we play badly, apparently. I mean, we’re only 18 places above them and 20 points ahead of them in the league but clearly that means nothing.

He can cry all he wants but it’s not our fault the reading players couldn’t score in a brothel never mind on a football pitch. Then when you have Willy Boly who resembles a brick wall and John Ruddy an octopus, you have to just accept it if you’re not getting past us.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Willy Boly really is a beast. He came back into our side for Norwich and since then we’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets, the guy is just different class. Climbing Mount Everest is probably one of the biggest challenges in life but trying to get past Willy Boly is even harder, he’s not called the man mountain for nothing. Made an unbelievable block/interception whatever you want to call it to stop a certain goal, a big moment to help us get the win.

Cavaleiro had one of his better performances this season yesterday and he didn’t get substituted first this time which even tells you he had a good game. Took his goal superbly well, the audacity he had to ball roll Vito Mannone was incredible which sent him back to Italy never mind Arsenal. Great vision from Jota to spot the run and play it at the right time as well.

Coady was solid throughout, along with Bennett too. With Boly it’s a back three that’s serving us well at the moment. Coady made quite a few good tackles at important times and Bennett was strong for the majority of the game but a couple of times he did get caught out by the pace of Barrow.

Matt Doherty probably doesn’t get enough plaudits with all of the Portuguese contingent getting a lot of them but this guy has definitely been one of our most consistent players this season. Up and down the wing constantly which is tough, does well defensively and offers a lot going forward too. Took his goal fantastically well, good finish on his weaker foot but I’ll never know how he’s not played a single minute for Republic of Ireland yet, they must not watch him play.