Wolves 2-1 Sunderland

Wolves finished the season in 15th position.

Wolves finished their Premier League season with a convincing 2-1 win over Sunderland at Molineux.

An early Sunderland goal was cancelled out by Kevin Doyle who converted from the penalty spot after Matt Jarvis had been taken down by Alan Hutton.

New signing Adlene Guedioura completed the turnaround late on when his low left-footed drive beat Craig Gordon at his near post.

Wolves played well throughout and could have been ahead earlier if it was not for the impressive Gordon who did well to deny both player of the year Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra.

Man of the match: Kevin Doyle – Lead the line well for Wolves and controlled most of the balls put in his path. Worked his socks off and his standing ovation was well deserved when he was substituted. Oh yeah, he scored a penalty as well! Kevin Doyle is ******* magic da da da da da…

Flops of the match: Michael Turner and Jack Colback – both sent off for two bookable offences. Sunderland were playing badly as it was and they certainly didn’t help their teams cause.

Referee: Lee Mason – In my opinion he missed a handball in the build-up to Sunderland’s goal but other then that the Lancashire official had a sound game – 8.

Portsmouth 3-1 Wolves

Fratton Park houses possibly the grottiest toilets i've ever been in. Any chance of a refurb?

A poor defensive display from Wolves saw us crash to a 3-1 defeat to already relegated Portsmouth.

Kevin Doyle equalised after Aruna Dindane had put the south-coast side ahead. But further goals from John Utaka and Michael Brown secured the win for Pompey.

Man of the match: Ronald Zubar – Wolves’ best outlet going forward. Zubar beat his man more often than not to get a delivery into the area. Good defensive work too. He was moved into midfield late on.

Flop of the match: Marcus Hahnemann – I’m a big fan of the American but today he was at fault for Portsmouth’s second and third goals. Beaten at his near post for the second and the ball went under him for Michael Brown’s and Portsmouth’s third.

Referee: Mike Jones – Really don’t think he’s up to Premier League standard but obviously Mike Riley and previously Keith Hackett did. He did okay today but gave fouls a bit easily for my liking. 6

The man whose goal secured Wolves’ promotion secures their survival

Wolves scored their first goal since they played West Ham in March.

The man whose goal got us promoted a year ago, today scored the goal that realistically kept us in the Premier League.

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s header nine minutes from time cancelled out Ryan Nelsen‘s first half goal to send the Molineux faithful into delirium and ulitmately onto the pitch at full time.Wolves never really got their game together today but Stephen Ward‘s left wing cross was met by substitute Ebanks-Blake who headed down into the net via the post from six yards. In his post match interview with Sky Sports, Mick McCarthy wouldn’t admit Wolves were safe but I think the 5,000 or so fans on the pitch would tell you otherwise. He said: “We’re nearly there,” McCarthy told Sky Sports. “It makes it difficult now (to be relegated) as Burnley have to win all three games.“But, as the announcer kept saying, we’re not safe yet – we can’t celebrate. If the others don’t do it for us, we’ll go down to Portsmouth and then we’ve got Sunderland and we’ll try and get the points then.” Man of the match: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake – After a ‘mixed’ season Ebanks finally scored a goal from open play for Wolves. The crowd were just as happy to see a goal at Molineux. Yesssssssssssss!!! Flops of the match: The fans - I was going to give this to Stephen Ward before he set up our equaliser. Instead, i’ll give it to the fans – what a bunch of idiots. What’s the point in running onto the pitch at full time. I hate to see it when clubs do it on the telly. Fair enough if we’d won the the league but we haven’t. We’ve narrowly escaped relegation.Referee: Mark Clattenburg - replaced the scheduled appointment of Lee Probert and had an okay game. Could have given Blackburn a penalty in the first and maybe should have dismissed Morten Gamst Pedersen but the Geordie had a decent game.Tonight’s updated table will look great to Wolves fans this evening. Unless Burnley win all three of their remaining games and Wolves lose both theirs, then Premier League football will return to Molineux in August. 

14	Bolton	36	-25	36
15	Wolves	36	-23	35
16	Wigan	36	-34	35
17	West Ham	36	-18	34
18	Hull	36	-41	28
19	Burnley	35	-37	27
20	Portsmouth	36	-33	16

Wolves 0-0 Fulham: Another valuable point for Wolves

Wolves also drew 0-0 at Fulham in their only other Premier League trip to Craven Cottage in 2003/2004.

Wolves recorded their third 0-0 draw in four games after drawing a blank with Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The game will be remembered as only the second game in Premier League history where only one shot on target was recorded – a weak Christophe Berra header.

Man of the match: Ronald Zubar – one of Zubar’s best games for Wolves. Won most of the aerial balls and was tidy on the floor. Some good runs forward helped Wolves build attacks too.

Flop of the match: Bobby Zamora – England striker, get real! Despite hitting the post from distance, Zamora was dominated by Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra all afternoon. Don’t take him Fabio!

It was a glorious day in London, it's just a pity the football couldn't match.

Referee: Mike Dean – I’m not a big fan of Dean but he did well today. Good effort.

My verdict: Another match day over where Hull haven’t gained ground on us. I still won’t celebrate until it’s mathematically certain that we have stayed up but today was a huge step to guarantee our Premier League stauts.

Wolves and Stoke City play out a snore-draw at Molineux

Wolves remain 14th after the draw

Wolves drew 0-0 with Stoke at Molineux to move six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

In a hugely forgettable game, neither keeper was seriously tested and the game was continually disrupted due to the time it took Stoke to set up for Rory Delap’s long throws.

Delap had 27 throw-ins during the game yet he only completed 24 passes. Maybe you’re better suited to basketball mate?

Wolves defended the aerial onslaught well and can go into the final four games knowing that either Burnley or Hull will have to win two more games than Wolves

As a result, Wolves struggled to put a good passing game together and it was not ever going to be a game that attackers Matt Jarvis and Kevin Doyle could compete in due to their physical opponents of Robert Huth, Abdoulaye Faye and Danny Higginbotham.

The Potters have the joint meanest defence in the Premier League having only conceded 16 goals on their travels.

Wolves went closest when Kevin Foley’s dipping shot dropped narrowly wide from 20-yards and Stoke’s Mammady Sidibe should have converted midway through the second half.

My verdict: Boringgggggggggg. Strange game really because although Stoke’s set pieces kept halting play, once Wolves did have the ball they looked happy to keep it and play square balls instead of taking it forward.

Man of the match: Jody Craddock – the experienced defender headed everything away that came in his direction and lead the defence well to defend Stoke’s long throws.

Flop of the match: George Elokobi – not George’s best day in a Wolves shirt. His passing and overall decision making was dreadful to say the least. Mick McCarthy took exception to some Wolves fans booing the Cameroonian but I have no quarms with criticising him on here. I’d be surprised if McCarthy knows what a blog is.

Referee: Chris Foy – despite one or two 50/50 decisions that went in Stoke’s favour I think the Merseyside official had a good game.

Wolves lose to Arsenal after a 95th minute winner from Nicklas Bendtner

Arsenal have scored at least once in the last 20 minutes in each of their last 11 Premier League games at the Emirates.

Wolves lost by a Nicklas Bendtner goal to nil after having captain Karl Henry wrongly sent off midway through the second half.

Bendtner struck in the fifth minute of injury time to break Wolves’ hearts and deny them a fifth consecutive game unbeaten.

Karl Henry was dismissed midway through the second half for a challenge from behind on Tomas Rosicky. As per usual, Arsene Wenger went mad on the touchline. Mick McCarthy applauded Henry off the field much to the disgust of the Arsenal fans.

In truth, Wolves were battered for most of the game and rarely troubled Almunia in the Arsenal goal. Never mind, Burnley lost 6-1 and Hull lost 2-0. We are still five points clear of the drop zone.

My verdict: Wolves were so unlucky to come away with nothing from the Emirates after defending for their lives for 94 minutes of the game. It was annoying to see Wolves concede from a cross after we had dominated in the air all day in our own box. I’m not going to cry myself to sleep though as Arsenal’s squad is probably worth £150million more than ours is. Next week’s game against Stoke will be hard for different reasons and we will do well to pick up points there.

Man of the match: Marcus Hahnemann – Wolves were getting dominated from start to finish today and the only thing stopping them from scoring was the American stopper. Time after time Hahnemann came to pluck crosses out of the air. He also did well to react to some shots that came through a lot of bodies. Top stuff from the man who I never thought would be any good.

Flop of the match: Theo Walcott - Arsenal relied on the England international to put some telling crosses into the Wolves area but the £14million winger’s final ball was rubbish. I hope Fabio Capello was there to see it because he was dreadful.

Referee: Andre Marriner – I haven’t seen the red card tackle yet but according to Mick McCarthy and most of the nations media, Marriner got the big decision wrong and Karl Henry should have been cautioned at most.

Wolves reserves beat Stoke City to seal second win of the season

Goals from Sam Vokes, Geoffrey Mujangi Bia and Andy Keogh gave Wolves a 3-1 win over Stoke City

Wolves sit bottom of the Reserve League.

in the Barclays Premier Reserve League.

First teamers Vokes, Mujangi Bia, Keogh, Milijas, Edwards and Surman all gained valuable minutes at AFC Telford‘s New Bucks Head to keep them fresh if needed for the final run in.

Vokes opened the scoring with a deflected effort on 38 before Mujangi Bia doubled Wolves’ lead with a 25 yard shot on 76.

Andy Keogh rounded off the scoring shortly afterwards after beating the Potters goalkeeper form close range.

Wolves: McCarey, Halford, Reckford, Edwards, Stearman, Dunleavy, Surman, Milijas, Vokes, Keogh, Bia Mujangi.

Subs: Mendez Laing, Winnall, Forde, Griffiths.

Stoke: Parton, Cohen, Wint, Jackson, Davies, McDonald, Lund, Nicholls, Mitchell, Moult, Foster (Alexander 58).

Subs: Harrison, Hedley, Stockhall, Sinclair.

My verdict: About time the reserves won a game. We always play fairly strong teams and never seem to come away with results which is quite worrying. Hopefully this will mean Keogh and Edwards are much closer to a return to the starting XI.

Wolves hold Everton to a goalless draw at Molineux

Wolves are unbeaten in their last four league games

Wolves drew 0-0 with form team Everton to move up to the dizzy heights of 14^th position in the Premier League.

Both teams lined up with a 4-5-1 formation which meant there was little space for anyone to create anything in the midfield area.

Wanderers mustered only one shot on target all game compared to Everton’s 14 and rarely gave Tim Howard any trouble in the Everton goal.

Everton were tidy with their passing but missed good chances at a sun-soaked Molineux.

Ronald Zubar seemed to have a huge, green Fifa 10 arrow above his head as he continuously bombed down the right flank to support the impressive Kevin Foley but his crosses didn’t find their intended targets.

My verdict: A great point for Wolves and our first clean sheet since beating Spurs in February. The fact there was no Mikel Arteta for Everton helped us as his replacement didn’t cause many problems. I’m a bit gutted that I didn’t get to see him play because he’s been on fire recently.

Man of the match: Jody Craddock – great display from the veteran to keep Saha and then Yakubu in check. A vital goal line clearance in injury time made sure Wolves took a point.

Flop of the match: Christophe Berra – despite some people saying he’s a no messing defender, I think he’s terrible. He just seems to mess up needlessly and bottle it under pressure. To compound Berra’s misery, Ronald Zubar said on Soccer Saturday that he had the worst accent in the whole Wolves squad.

Referee: Mike Jones – I’m not going to waste my time writing about the catalogue of bad decisions from the official today. In one word – shambolic!

West Hammered!

Wolves have lost only one game against a team in claret and blue this season.

Wolves produced their best performance of season to win 3-1 against a lacklusture West Ham. Click here to view goal highlights.

Goals from Kevin Doyle, Ronald Zubar and Matt Jarvis sealed the win at Upton Park on a pivotal night for Wolves in their fight for survival.

Wolves went close early on after Kevin Foley rattled the bar  from a tight angle but Wolves eventually went ahead on 28minutes. 

Irishman Doyle put the boys ahead after capitalising on a James Tomkins mistake, Doyle ran into the penalty area before sliding the ball past Rob Green from a tight angle. 

Wolves doubled their lead in the second half when Zubar fired and angled shot into the bottom corner with the aid of the slightest of deflections. 

Jarvis put the icing on the cake with half an hour to go as he took a through ball from Dave Jones before blasting the ball past a helpless Rob Green from 18yards. 

West Ham grabbed a consolation in injury time as Guillermo Franco finished neatly by lifting the ball over Marcus Hahnemann but it won’t dampen Wolves’ spirits one bit. 

Man of the match: Karl Henry - he was aided by Michael Mancienne patrolling the area in front of the defence but the Wolves fan broke up most West Ham attacks and played plenty of neat passes both long and short. Great game for Wolves’ skipper. 

Flop of the match: James Tomkins - he gifted Wolves their opening goal by first miss-controlling and then playing a weak back pass. He let Wolves score the crucial first goal 

Referee: Phil Dowd – A steady game for Dowd although he denied Wolves a stonewall penalty in the first half as Jones was brought down in the area. Not a bad night for the Stokie despite awarding 24 fouls against Wolves 

My Verdict: In beating both Burnley and West Ham, Wolves have taken a huge leap in their bid to avoid relegation. It would now take a huge downturn in fortune and results for us to go down. Keep it up Wolves – we can do it!! We are staying up, say we are staying up!

Villa 2-2 Wolves

The game was the 100th meeting between the two sides.

After coming from behind, Wolves let a goal lead slip to draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Wolves remained unchanged for the sixth successive game and Chris Iwelumo came back into the squad following the completion of his loan spell at Bristol City.

An early offside goal from John Carew put Villa ahead before goals from Jody Craddock and James Milner meant Wolves went in at half time 2-1 ahead. Wolves parked the bus second half and after huge Villa pressure, Wanderers finally buckled ten minutes from time as Carew added a second.

Mick McCarthy said after the game:

“My heart rate is still pounding but I’m pleased – but also disappointed. Once we settled down we gave an excellent account of ourselves. I thought we were terrific. I’m disappointed with the goals but there are more positives. It feels like we’ve had a couple of points snatched away but it was our own downfall.”

Man of the match: David Jones – one of his best games in a Wolves shirt. He wasn’t afraid to get in amongst it and didn’t let Petrov have too much space in the centre of midfield. Distributed the ball well to Foley and Jarvis.

Flop of the match: Carlos Cuellar – turned inside out by Jarvis and Doyle and was partly at fault for both goals after being exposed.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg – bit of a mixed bag from the Geordie. Doyle seemed to get pushed and pulled all voer the place by Villa’s central defensive pairing of Dunne and Collins and was given nothing. It was more the linesman that cost Wolves today as John Carew was offside for Villa’s first goal.

My Verdict: Great point for the boys. Despite being ahead for 45 minutes, after Villa scored their first it looked as though it could be a mauling. Cracking comeback and we would have all taken a point before kick-off. Thoughts now turn to Tuesday’s crunch match with West Ham at Upton Park.