Wolves book on golden nights under the floodlights available for pre-order

Writers Clive Corbett and Steve Gordos have collected memories and stories from former players and supporters for their new book titled ‘Golden Glow: Favourite Wolves’ floodlit matches 1953 to present day’.

From the historic clashes with Honved to the exhilarating FA Cup and Europa League nights of recent years, the book details them all – with the writers bending their original rules to include away fixtures and afternoon games that were partially floodlit.

In this extract, one contributor remembers the 2-1 FA Cup win over Manchester United in March 2019:

The one hundredth meeting of Wolves and Manchester United, screened at 7.55 pm on prime time BBC, started slowly but truly became a Molineux night to remember. The light show and fireworks further ratcheted up the pre-match atmosphere as head coach Nuno Espirito Santo sprang a surprise by replacing Ryan Bennett with Romain Saiss at centre-back. Wolves perhaps showed their opponents a little too much respect in an uneventful opening in which Wolves sat deep and allowed United to dominate possession. As the half wore on Wanderers grew in confidence and Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota both tested Romero before Martin Atkinson ignored appeals for a penalty as Otto blocked a Dalot shot with his elbow. Just before the break Jota was put in by Neves only to be foiled by the United keeper about fifteen yards out.

After the interval Wolves began to turn the screw and Romero somehow managed to palm Jimenez’s header on to the bar from a Joao Moutinho corner. As the hour mark came home fans could only fear that Wolves would have to pay for the missed chances, Moutinho being the next to be denied as the fingertips of Romero pushed his 25-yard shot over the bar. However, from the resulting corner Moutinho skipped past two defenders to make his way into the box and find Raul Jimenez. With his back to goal and surrounded by defenders, he somehow spun to fire a low shot in the corner to put Wolves ahead.

Wolves refused to go on the defensive and just six minutes later Jota was sent away by Neves to find himself completely on his own in the United half. He barged past Luke Shaw’s challenge, leaving him on the floor, before finishing low and hard past Romero at the near post. The 26,000 home fans inside Molineux went barmy, creating the impression that the stands and cameras were truly bouncing - they probably were.

As the visitors tried desperately to re-establish a foothold in the game they were then reduced to ten men as Victor Lindelof unceremoniously took out Jota right in front of the dug-outs. VAR overturned the award to a yellow but it made little difference as Wolves played out the final few minutes. Even Rashford’s consolation goal couldn’t spoil the party as it left barely a moment for the restart to be taken. Ruben Neves summed it all up: “It was incredible and a beautiful moment for us. We are at Wembley the fans deserved it.”

Nuno Espirito Santo: “We did it together! What pleases me more is when I walk down the stands, there are people who say they saw the 1950s and 1960s – and they are still coming to this stadium – to give them back this joy, seeing our friends going out of the stadium with this smile, with a lot of beer!

"Throughout the game the atmosphere was fantastic. We played well and achieved it with the amazing support of our fans, pushing us and believing in us.”

The book is scheduled for publication in November and can now be pre-ordered by contacting Corbett on: gpbooks@hotmail.co.uk.