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Wolves 1-2 Millwall – Full Report
By JOEL REED at Molineux
Glenn Hoddle declared at the beginning of the new Coca-Cola Championship season just over a month ago that Wolverhampton Wanderers would pride themselves on playing beautiful passing football.
Fast-forward 40 days since the Molineux manager made this statement and his ‘Plan A’ looked last night to have now been completely blown out of the window – as Wolves put in a performance that went from beauty to beast against rock-bottom league opponents Millwall.
The surprisingly small 21,897 crowd at Molineux – who rightly provided an atmosphere as flat as a pancake – watched on in disgust as Wolves’ usual flowing passing style was suffocated by a make-shift Millwall side, which included three players who were scarcely given 48 hours to get-to-know their new team-mates.
Former Wolves boss Colin Lee’s Lions side arrived in Wolverhampton with morale as low as their current league position, following five humiliating straight defeats, and a long trip to face an in-form Wolves side at the stadium where they have compiled a 17-match unbeaten home run must not have filled the Londoners with confidence.
Well Lee and Co must have thought their birthdays had all come at once, as Wolves put in a performance that former England coach Hoddle later described after the match as "lacking in professionalism", which condemned them to a result so typical of the club over the last few years.
But it could have been so different for Wolves had they managed to find that elusive characteristic of finishing off sides when they go ahead; and that was something that a furious Hoddle addressed in his post-match press conference.
Hoddle said: "The game lasts 90-plus minutes and we’ve had our pockets picked and it’s not a good feeling.
"We’ve got to show a little more character than that and a little more resilience to beat teams.
"We’ve got to take our opportunities to win the match or that will be our downfall this season."
Wolves hit-man Carl Cort scored his sixth goal of the season to put his side ahead after 19 minutes, latching on to the recalled Jackie McNamara’s inch-perfect cross to guide a bullet header past Lions keeper Andy Marshall.
With six goals to his name Cort climbed to the top of the Championship’s top-scorers list alongside Crystal Palace’s Andrew Johnson, Sheffield United’s Steven Kabba and Watford’s Marlon King.
But Cort, a former Ł7M acquisition by Newcastle United, insisted he took no pleasure in his own personal success, he said: "Obviously I was pleased to score but now that doesn't mean anything because this is a team game, and the result has not gone our way."
Five minutes after Cort’s opener, Wanderers midfielder Darren Anderton hobbled off injured to be replaced by Nigerian international Seyi George Olofinjana and things went downhill from there as Wolves never looked to continue with the same potency.
Three minutes after the change former Wolves midfielder Jermaine Wright, who had only put pen to paper on a Millwall loan deal from Leeds United 24 hours before kick-off, then scored a sensational debut goal, lashing a 20 yard volley past Wolves keeper Oakes to level the scores.
The heads of several of the Wolves side went down and failed to come up again, as only Jackie McNamara, Lee Naylor, Joleon Lescott and skipper Mark Kennedy went about their business with any real urgency.
And Wolves paid the price, as 67 frustrating and ugly minutes of football later Lions striker Barry Hayles – a menace and bully to the Molineux back-line all game – latched on to a Livermore lofted through-ball to execute a stunning lob over Oakes to hi-jack all three points in the fourth minute of injury-time.
Up until the Olofinjana switch Wolves had put in the type of performance which had seen them win three back-to-back home matches against Crystal Palace, Hull City and QPR respectively.
Rookie Wolves striker Leon Clarke, brought in to the starting line-up by Hoddle to replace the injured Kenny Miller following his heroic exploits for Scotland last week, came close after three minutes.
Lions keeper Marshall fumbled a weak shot by Clarke out for a corner; the resulting kick by Kennedy was played to Ki-Hyeon Seol, whose powerful, low, goal bound shot was cleared off the line by Jody Morris and the loose ball fell to Clarke, but his volleyed shot under-pressure skewed wide.
Minutes later Seol, who faded so terribly in the second half that his every touch was met with disgruntled moans from the Molineux faithful, provided his second and final moment of positive play, clipping the ball through a sleepy Millwall back-line, which was met by Kennedy, who timed his run to perfection, but the Irishman choked poking his weak shot wide from six yards.
Cort had a goal chalked off for offside moments later, but the striker didn’t take long too find the back of the net again.
With 19 minutes gone, Mark Kennedy in the middle of the pitch back-heeled his pass to right-back Jackie McNamara, who took off down the right wing. McNamara then thumped a looping cross which homed in towards the back post, where the ball was met by the 6ft 4in frame of Cort, who unleashed a humdinger of a header past Marshall to score his fifth goal in three games.
Anderton was forced to limp his way towards the Wolves dugout four minutes later and his replacement was Seyi George Olofinjana. But following the switch Wolves looked weak in the centre of the park, with Olofinjana failing to use his large frame to dictate the proceedings and how Hoddle must have wished that the injured Paul Ince was at his disposal.
Millwall began charging their way through the middle and attacking the Wolves defence at will and they were level three minutes after the substitution. A corner was cleared by Kennedy via the use of his head to the edge of the penalty area, where an unmarked Wright, connected with a firm volley, which flew through the sea of bodies in to the top right hand corner of the goal to send the 50 or so travelling Millwall supporters in to ecstasy.
Cue the second half, and worse to come for Wolves as they failed to get a grip on the proceedings. Seol, who was met with screams of "get off" from his own supporters whenever he found himself in possession of the ball, was about to be sacrificed for George Ndah just after the hour mark but before the board went up, Leon Clarke had slid to meet a Cort cross across the box and the youngster flew in to the post and was forced to hobble off with a leg injury.
Colin Cameron came on in favour of Ricketts, who had run out of attacking ideas, but a dogged Millwall defence, aided by former Wolves defender Adrian Williams who joined the club last week, held the fading home side at bay.
Anger and disapproval echoed around all four sides of Molineux as the home supporters unrest grew with every passing minute, but in the fourth minute of injury time an eerie silence of disbelief fell over the stadium as Millwall won the game.
Wolves defender Gabor Gyepes slipped as he cleared the ball away from danger and the loose ball fell to Livermore, whose lobbed pass fell to the feet of the now unmarked Hayles, who was presented with a one-on-one opportunity with Oakes.
Oakes came off his line to narrow down the angle and Hayles proceeded to coolly lob the ball over the top of the advancing keeper and watched on as it fell in to the empty net.
Match Statistics:
Wolves: Oakes 6, McNamara 7, Lescott 7, Gyepes 5, Naylor 6, Seol 4, Ricketts 5 (Cameron 67, 5), Anderton 5 (Olofinjana 24, 5), Kennedy 8*, Cort 7, Clarke 6 (Ndah 68, 5).
Subs Not Used: Postma, Craddock.
Booked: McNamara.
Goals: Cort 19.
Millwall: Marshall, Ifil, Williams, Phillips, Vincent, Dunne, Wright, Morris, Livermore, May, Hayles (Serioux 90).
Subs Not Used: Fangueiro, Hutchison, Paul Robinson, Igoe.
Booked: Dunne.
Goals: Wright 27, Hayles 90.
Attendance: 21,897
Ref: U Rennie
*Wolves 24-7 Man of the Match: Mark Kennedy
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