West Brom 0 Wolves 2 - Report

After Wolves went 2-0 up in the 78th minute, shortly after the game was stopped as a disturbance in the crowd flared up. The players from both teams were dragged off the field as police and stewards raced to two corners of the ground where Albion fans were attempting to get on the pitch.

It is believed some Wolves fans were discovered in the home end after the second goal went in, which was scored by Matheus Cunha. The game was stopped for around 35 minutes.

Earlier in the game, Wolves took a 1-0 lead through Pedro Neto after surviving some early scares.

Analysis

Carlos Corberan named goalkeeper Josh Griffiths in his team, with the academy graduate only previously making 12 senior appearances.

Nathaniel Chalobah was also handed a start in midfield, with his energy and experience preferred to an attacking option like Tom Fellows.

Gary O’Neil made one change from the draw with Brighton last time out, as he stuck with the 5-2-3 formation.

Jean-Ricner Bellegarde came in for Pablo Sarabia, who missed out on the squad altogether with a knock to his calf.

A youthful bench was boosted by the return of Rayan Ait-Nouri, who returned after Algeria were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Both sets of fans created an incredible atmosphere as the game got under way.

Albion had an early chance when they raced towards an unsettled Wolves defence. Jed Wallace beat Toti Gomes to the ball and his cross was turned behind for a corner, which was cleared.

Once the game settled, both sets of players were taking their time, as Wolves dominated possession. Brandon Thomas-Asante did have a header on target for the Baggies, but it was straight at Jose Sa.

Moments later, Wallace then had a free header but Sa was equal to it again. For Wolves, those two headed opportunities were warning signs not to allow too much space when crosses came in.

Wolves did finally have an effort on goal after 12 minutes when Cunha took aim, but his shot from distance flashed wide of the post with Griffiths covering.

Wallace was finding a lot of space on the right and when Matt Doherty fell asleep, a smart pass found him in space. His cross bounced dangerously off a Wolves man and wide, with Thomas-Asante lurking.

Wolves began to settle down and had a chance when the ball fell to Cunha just inside the box for a first time shot, but he snatched at it, and it was high and over the bar.

After a brief spell where they looked calm, Wolves began to panic again. Going forward they were frantic and kept losing the ball, which in defence they looked shaky. Wallace again, the dangerman for Albion, took on Toti too easily and found John Swift, who turned and had his shot from close range blocked.

Another scramble in the Wolves box was begging for an Albion touch, as O’Neil voiced his anger at Wolves’ poor start to the game.

Despite that, one Albion mistake resulted in a Wolves goal after 38 minutes. A terrible corner from Alex Mowatt was intercepted by Doherty, who brought the ball down nicely and found Neto bursting down the right. The winger cut inside, got lucky as he rode one challenge, and slotted the ball into the bottom corner to send 4,000 travelling supporters wild.

In the celebrations, two flares were let off in the away end and Wolves supporters were escorted out of the home end by stewards.

Wolves managed the occasion in the final minutes of the half, to take a lead into the break.

At the start of the second half, Swift had an effort from distance but it was an easy task for Sa, who collected it.

At the other end, Mario Lemina met a cross but his header was straight at Griffiths.

Albion were screaming for a penalty when Thomas-Asante came charging to meet a Wallace head down, with the goal gaping. But in reality the striker kicked Max Kilman’s leg and missed the ball, prompting a good decision from referee Thomas Bramall.

The added spice of the game then came to fruition when Wallace was booked for a heavy tackle on Tommy Doyle, which left the Wolves midfielder in a heap.

An awful pass from Sa to Neto almost allowed Albion a chance on goal, as the hosts looked to pick up the pace in search of an equaliser.

In an end-to-end game, superb work from Bellegarde released Neto down the right, and his reverse pass almost picked out Doherty.

The occasion threated to boil over when Doyle went over to take a corner and a bottle thrown at him from the home end missed the Wolves midfielder’s head by a matter of inches. A second bottle followed shortly after.

Wolves were dealing with the game and occasion well after 65 minutes, with a solid defence and genuine counter-attack threat.

They almost scored a second when a teasing Doyle cross almost found Cunha at the back post, who came sliding in.

Bellegarde came close with a lovely curled effort that whistled past the post, before coming off in the 70th minute and being replaced by Ait-Nouri.

Thomas-Asante had a huge chance when the ball fell for him on the edge of the box, but he blazed over the bar.

On the counter-attack, the game threatened to boil over again when Kyle Bartley bashed Cunha to the floor. The referee played advantage before booking Bartley and Craig Dawson took exception to the challenge, as he squared up with Bartley and accused him of using an elbow.

The Baggies continued to carry some threat when Swift found space and delivered a powerful shot that was just wide.

But it was Wolves that extended their lead in the 78th minute. A long ball from Kilman found Cunha and he darted towards goal before slotting the ball into the bottom corner, to celebrate in front of the away fans.

In the minutes following the goal, the game descended into chaos. A disturbance started in the crowd and Albion fans from two corners of the ground started getting onto the pitch. Wolves staff pulled the players away as both sets of teams went down the tunnel and police ran over.

Several individuals were being dragged away by stewards and police, as it seems several Wolves fans had got into the home end. Bartley was also seen taking two small children out of the crowd and down the tunnel, from an area where the players’ families normally sit.

Police were managing to keep a lid on proceedings but were struggling to get fans back to their seats as they crowded the two corners, one of which was by the Wolves fans. One Albion fan was led away from police with blood streaming from his head. Another was taken away by paramedics on a stretcher.

The game was stopped for around 35 minutes before the situation calmed down, the players came back out to warm-up and the game restarted.

After the trouble, the game was fairly subdued once it restarted.

But Thomas-Asante almost burst it into life when he got the better of Dawson and put in a low cross, that was well defended by Nelson Semedo.

A nice Baggies move then saw Swift take aim, but Sa was equal to it. At the other end, Cunha almost got a second but Griffiths made a terrific stop.

After two minutes of added time, Wolves saw the game out to take a huge win in the Black Country derby.

Key Moments

GOAL 38 A Wolves counter-attack sees Neto slide the ball home

GOAL 78 Cunha latches onto a long ball and slots it into the corner to win it for Wolves

Teams

West Brom: Griffiths, Furlong, Bartley (Taylor, 79), Kipre (Pieters, 79), Townsend (Pipa, 79), Yokuslu, Mowatt, Chalobah (Fellows, 67), Wallace, Swift, Thomas-Asante.

Subs not used: Palmer, Pipa, Hall, Whitwell, Heard, Malcolm.

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, toti, Doherty, Lemina, Doyle, Neto (Chirewa, 79), Bellegarde (Ait-Nouri, 70), Cunha.

Subs not used: Bentley, King, S.Bueno, H.Bueno, Griffiths, Hodge, Fraser.