Stourbridge 2-0 Wolves

Last night Wolves were defeated 2-0 at Stourbridge's War Memorial Athletic Ground in the Birmingham Senior Cup second round. Wolves selected what was basically a development XI, and in a mirror image of the first team, lacked that real cutting edge upfront. A number of chances were created and squandered, as either the final ball or poor finishing let the side down. It was generally an even match, with Stourbridge making the most of the opportunities they had. 

In goal for Wolves was Jonathan Flatt, who could do nothing with either of the goals, and I can't remember him making any other saves. One thing that stood out was his poor kicking, especially from passbacks. Twice his kicks fell straight to Stourbridge players within 30 yards of his goal, and he was fortunate that neither led to the score being increased. Stourbridge's second goal came from a freekick which was conceded after a poor clearance from Flatt. Apart from his kicking, he did nothing really wrong, although there were two occasions when he seemed quite hesitant about coming out to meet the ball which could have potentially caused issues. 

Kristian Kostrna at right back was a player I wanted to see, and given his pedigree he should have had an easy night. He is just coming back from a broken leg, but I was slightly disappointed in a disjointed performance. At times, his quality showed, but at other times he was panicky and too quick to play a hopeful ball down the line. On the other flank, Jordan Cranston was one of our better attacking threats, moving into the space created as Robbie Parry cut inside. Twice in the first half, Cranston got in behind the Stourbridge defence but his crosses were all too close to the goalkeeper who was easily able to intercept. 

The centre backs were Dominic Iorfa and Jamie Tank, and they were largely untroubled. The opening goal was at the other end to my position, so I'm not sure if either was at fault, while the second seemed to be a far post freekick that went all the way in - again, I'm not sure if either were at fault. In the second half, Wolves played quite a high line which meant that both spent a reasonable amount of time facing their own goal, dealing with long balls. Both did reasonably well, although Iorfa woefully underhit a backpass to Flatt, and was fortunate that Cranston was able to cover.

In front of the defence was the midfield partnership of Sam Whittall and Tim Jakobsson. The left-footed Jakobsson seemed to be the deeper of the two, although it didn't look he is a natural defensive midfield. His primary role seemed to be distributing the ball to the flanks. Whittall had more license to get forward, and did this to good effect, slipping a lovely ball through for Bradley Reid in the first half, which the striker squandered. In the second half, Whittall swapped position with James Kellerman, playing more as a striker. It was from this position that he wasted the best chance of the match when Kellerman burst through the inside left channel, squared the ball to Whittall on penalty spot, who seemed to have all the time in the world to pick his spot but took too long and defender got back.

Eusebio Bancessi, the one player who has had quite a lot of hype in the last couple of weeks played on the right wing. I have to say I was disappointed by his general lack of involvement. He had a snap shot in the first half from the angle of the penalty area, but dragged a left-footed effort wide of the near post. He had a couple of other nice runs down the wing, but never looked like he was going to create anything, and spent large periods out of the action. 

Comparatively, on the other flanks Robbie Parry was the pick of the bunch. A (very) right-footed left winger, who cut inside to create the space for Cranston, he was involved in everything good that Wolves did. He liked bringing the ball down and running at defenders. One issue I did have with him is a lack of a left foot. He almost scored one of the best goals I've ever seen, absolutely roasting a defender by using his right foot to back heel the ball into his left foot to push the ball past the defender and run through on goal. Unfortunately, he was unwilling to use his left foot, instead slashing an effort wide of the far post with the outside of his right foot. I think I only saw him use his left foot once, clipping a cross out of play behind the goal. He had another chance in the first half as well, declining the opportunity to shoot on his left foot, and instead doing a stepover and trying to shift the ball onto his right. But, overall he was the standout player on the pitch. 

We started the game with two forwards, with James Kellerman playing just off main forward Bradley Reid, signed from Wrexham in September. Kellerman looked comfortable on the ball, dropping deep into the midfield and spraying the ball to the flanks. As the game progressed, he dropped deeper and deeper, to the point where he was playing as the deepest of the midfield. It was from this position where he burst through the Stourbridge backline to create the chance spurned by Sam Whittall. The centre forward Bradley Reid, seemed happy to be playing with his back to goal, receiving ball into feet and playing it out. He didn't seem quite so comfortable with dealing with long balls sent forward for him to challenge in the air. He had a glorious chance in the first half when he was sent through on goal by Whittall but could only poke his effort wide of the goal. Early in the second half he had two decent chances - firstly he had an effort blocked from on the six-yard box and then from the resulting corner totally miscued his header.