The home side could have had eight, had their finishing been sharper, it was that sort of performance.
It was Tranmere’s turn to face the second placed team in League One, their five-one win over a very good Coventry side. This maybe added a seed of doubt about the evenings result in the minds of some Wolves fans. Thankfully, that doubt was cleared by half time. We saw a Wolves side utterly dominate a frankly awful Tranmere side.
Like the introduction suggests, Wolves could have had eight, statistically we could. Twenty five shots were amassed by the home side, eight of which were on target. It was a sparkling performance, which began with a blunder by the man between the Tranmere sticks. After Wolves had carved out some half chances, shots from Griffiths, Doyle and new signing, Michael Jacobs, tested Fon-Williams early on, but the aforementioned three found it really difficult to connect properly with ball, in order to test the ‘keeper sufficiently.
Wolves looked very tidy in possession, Tranmere were applying zero pressure to the ball, letting their opponents do what they wanted, basically. The owness was on Wolves now to finish them off, Tranmere were there for the taking. The goal game on seventeen minutes, Leigh Griffiths found himself with in acres of space through the middle, he looked up and hit what was, in reality, a rather weak shot, that most ‘keepers would have dealt with comfortably. Not Mr Fon Williams! He watched Griffiths’ shot all the way and then preceded to let the ball roll underneath his body and trickle into the back of his own net.
Nerves were settled and the home side could go and enjoy putting their mark on the game. They duly obliged, minutes after the goal, Sako’s first cross was in was cleared away, only for the mercurial Parisian to be given the time and space to hit another low cross which Kevin Doyle squandered, Wolves were turning up the heat, despite the wintery conditions. The captain, Sam Ricketts, then went on a Danni Alvesesque run down his right hand side, beating players seven or eight years his junior, with ease. His run brought him to the Tranmere penalty area, where his shot blazed a few feet over the crossbar, the fourteen thousand people inside the Molineux sat there agog at what they just saw, a thirty two year old making runs that any South American wing back would be proud of.
Wolves really were piling on the pressure now, Tranmere were struggling to deal with the almost tidal attack on their defence. Kenny Jackett decided to go with two attacking midfielders, Edwards and Macdonald, with Jacobs and Sako occupying the wings. The only change made since the frustrating nil-nil draw against Brentford, was the introduction of the attacking full back, Scott Golbourne, for Matt Doherty. Tranmere made just the one change in the defensive department, Taylor was replaced by Goodison at centre half, surprising Rovers made any changes considering their emphatic and rather unbelievable result away at Coventry, beating the Sky Blues five-one. Hatrick hero Ryan Lowe started up front, with former Albion player, Jason Koumas sitting just behind. Akpa-Akpro, the only Rovers player to register a shot on target, played on the right, with Kirby operating the left hand wing.
The lively Michael Jacobs saw an opening in the Rovers defence and drove forward with the ball, his low ball was cleared to an oncoming Sako, ‘shoot!’ was the cry from the crowd, Sako instead took a touch and hit a low drive that brushed inches past Fon Williams’ goal. Minutes later, the home side executed a training ground move from an indirect free kick, culminating in an out swinging cross which was cleared away.
Minutes before half time, Wolves took all three points.
After yet another Wolves attack, Sako took the resulting corner which Dave Edwards effortlessly glanced his header in from outside the six yard box. Even with forty-five minutes to go, the crowd knew that three points would be theirs. Two goals up, game over. Rickets then went on another lung busting run down the right, almost identical to the previous one, sadly, the finish was identical. Rickets’ shot blazed over the bar and the referee called time on a dominant first half.
The second half began with the replacement of the mercurial goal scorer Leigh Griffiths for the less mercurial Jake Cassidy. Soon after his introduction, Cassidy was slipped through one on one with Fon Williams, ten yards out, Cassidy put it wide. There is a lot of talk about Cassidy, some argued, myself included, thought it was him that should have gone out on loan rather than his fellow striker Liam McAlinden. Jackett obviously rates him and has persisted with him, but if Cassidy wants to break up the fruitful partnership of Doyle and Griffiths, he has to put chances like this away. Fon Williams spread himself, he narrowed the angles and all that jazz, but Cassidy should have made a better decision, lofting over the keeper maybe.
Rovers then registered their first attack, Akpa-Akpro flashed a low shot wide, to the left of Ikeme’s post, the first time in the game that the Wolves ‘keeper had been properly stretched. Ikeme then rolled the ball out to Batth, who maruaded forward into the Tranmere half, Batth gave the ball to Golbourne, he knocked it back into Jacobs who dazzled his way through the Tranmere defence, his last touch was that bit too heavy and it went out of play, to the frustration of the Derby man and the Wolves fans.
Wolves were doing all sorts of driving, this time it was Kevin Doyle in the proverbial driving seat. The Tranmere defence were left back peddling again, Doyle ran a good thirty yards before squandering a great chance to really put the game to bed, and Fon Williams did well to tip the ball out after Doyle used a sledge hammer (his right foot) to thump the ball at the net. The resulting corner saw Bakary Sako hit the ball into row-z, not able to get his head over the ball and thus squandering another chance.
Sako made amends soon after, Wolves hit Tranmere on the break and the French men’s low shot was spilled by a busy Fon Williams, Cassidy went to pounce but his former Tranmere team mate claimed the ball.
Tranmere, wanting to make amends, made two changes, Kirby and Koumas were replaced by Bell-Baggie and Sodje, Ronnie Moore wanting to gain some pride back for his side who had been outclassed by their opponents. Cassidy had another two headed efforts which went wide, it was good to see him working hard and not letting his head drop, but he really needs to start being more clinical in front of goal.
Wallace then chalked one up for Tranmere, his low drive was screwed miles wide, almost going out for a corner, summing up the away teams night really, hapless. Doyle then had two good chances, one saved by Fon Williams, then next shot was blazed high and wide. Jackett then went defensive with a few minutes left, Jack Price replacing the excellent Michael Jacobs, who rightly went off for to a standing ovation, his contribution as good as James Henry, made sure that the Milwall man was not missed. In the dying minutes of the game, Sako was slipped in but yet again Fon Williams prevented Wolves adding a third. Not that it mattered as Wolves eased to all three points.
Wolves will surely face sterner tests this season, starting with a game away at crestfallen Peterborough who will surely want to arrest their recent slump, what better way to do it? In front of your home crowd against the top of the league. The tough draw against Brentford is but a distant memory, Wolves go into the Christmas period with the best form in the league, timing could not have been better, both Orient and Peterborough are suffering ‘wobbles’, its Wolves’ time to assert their dominance on this league, and show them whose boss.
