Kingy’s Wolves Blog

A SEASON OF HOPEFUL HOPELESSNESS

21-04-2008

Wolves season isn’t technically dead, but it’s certainly on life support. Brendan King reflects on another home draw for a team which, ultimately, just isn’t good enough.

In the old days, before the brilliant invention of the play offs, this match would have been a meaningless run-out of disconsolate players, with nothing to play for, and looking forward to their holidays basking in sunnier climes.

But this was another ‘must win’ for 8th placed Wolves, and similarly for the 7th placed ‘Tractor Boys’.

Respect to their faithful fans, making the long journey from East Anglia and arriving in good numbers – filling almost all of the lower tier Steve Bull Stand seats, so recently vacated by jubilant WBA supporters whose team had us well beaten last Tuesday night.

Would these good natured fans, needing only a few genial Bobbies to marshal them into the ground, as compared the hundreds required just those few fateful days ago, leave as triumphant as the blue striped big bellies did on that ‘Terrible Tuesday’?

As I enter the North Bank, I’m thinking that this match is now more important than Tuesday, given that painful defeat, if the Wanderers are to make the playoffs and offer themselves a belated chance of promotion.

So, imagine the disappointment of the 26,000 crowd as, despite the importance of this match to both sides, the first half turned out to be just like one of those long ago meaningless end of season tussles, with neither side showing any real quality or, even, entertainment.

Wolves, as usual, were high on energy – as their manager (Mad Mick) always demands that his players “put in a good shift”. Ipswich, on the other hand, were less frenetic than the Wolves grafters, defending in numbers and holding on to the ball quite a lot better in midfield, than our faltering flock.

I was at a loss, however, to make out who were the strikers for the Tractor Boys, as no-one from their side seemed interested in getting forward and shooting on Hennessey’s usually well guarded goal, and, even when they did, they were efforts that were exceptionally tame or wildly off target.

So, the first half was exceptionally poor on quality as the Wolves defence continued along last Tuesday’s lines, in making schoolboy errors and not seeming even to understand the basics of how to get rid of the ball.

Wolves midfield, also, continued to be virtually non-existent, as long balls were continuously pumped over their heads, cutting out the central players, and which presented easy cannon fodder for the far too comfortable Ipswich defence.

Matty Jarvis showed pace on the left wing, and demonstrated his ability to skim past players, but his crosses were either misdirected or not met by late arriving Wolves forwards, and were easily dealt with by the Ipswich keeper, or his burly defensive colleagues.

Keogh is an energetic player, but lacks shooting or crossing ability, and is too easily brushed of the ball, and dangerously dwells on it to lose possession, which often leads to give-away soft goals, as was to happen later on.

This was turning out to be an even worse performance by Mad Mick’s men, than last Tuesday’s, and against a team far less dangerous than our flourishing Black Country rivals. What could be done in the second half to turn around this woeful performance?

Well, on came the heroic Michael Kightly, our best and liveliest player before he got chronically injured during the equivalent fixture last season. And, in a cameo performance, for short spells he at last injected much needed quality and possession into our otherwise touch-dreadful and misplaced passing midfield.

 'Kites' was obviously rusty and lacking his former touch and pace, but even despite his lack of speed and fitness, he still managed to catch the eye by demanding possession, keeping the ball and weaving past his quite ordinary defensive opponents.

It was a gem of quality - Kites tricky possession, followed by an accurate clipped cross - that led inevitably to a superb rifled volley by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (SEB) firing unstoppably into the net on the 73rd minute, and which appeared to all spectators to have won the game.

'SEB' had, just previously, spurned a sitter from 3 yards out, and the enduringly hapless Neil Collins had then clumsily blocked the strikers goal bound effort a few minutes later. So the goal, from the only stand-out striker on the pitch, was well justified and quite expected, as Wolves fierce attacks finally reached a successful climax.

This spectacular and long awaited strike was greeted with roars of relief from a previously subdued and frustrated Wanderers faithful, as SEB bared his magnificent torso, in a now trade-mark yellow card earning shirt removal, in gaining his 23rd of goal of the season and his10th for the Wolves.

As 3 minutes additional time was announced, I made my way from the ground, as the result of the game now appeared certain, with Wolves (so I wrongly thought) rather undeservedly about to pocket all 3 points.

But, just as I entered my little jalopy, there came an astonished roar of delight from the direction of the Steve Bull stand – and I sputtered away from the Molineux for the second time that week in sheer desolation.

Another Keogh loss of possession, and a needless Breen foul on the 93rd minute, had led to a free kick, fired in by the burly veteran Wearsider, Tommy Miller, past a static Wayne Hennessy – so Beacon Radio’s ‘Wolves legend’ Robbie Dennison was informing me – my fellow Northern Irelander was just as agonised as myself.

We’ve just not been good enough for the play-offs this season, – never mind the prospect of being anything better than the dreadful Derby County, or for that matter the 5-1, well beaten by the Villa, Birmingham City – now firmly set for relegation back to our league, or so it appears.

If, by some miracle we made it to the Premiership, I don’t want to endure what those teams fans have gone through. So I now face the plain fact – that I don’t any longer want promotion or even the opportunity of the play-offs for this particular Wolves first team squad. It would take a minimum of 20 million quid to keep this team in the top flight. And we haven’t got that kind of money.

Have the team blown it? If we’re honest that’s not the relevant question. Wolves have never had the quality, guile or killer instinct at any time this season to arrive in a position to blow anything!

Season virtually over - but what if we beat Cardiff next Tuesday and all of the other key promotion hopefuls around us lose? I can’t bare thinking about it. Will this season of hopeless hopefulness never end?