Millwall Vs Wolves

The Front Row
By David Hunt
December 22 2002

Despite the lack of support for Wolves at the New Den, Wolves put up a solid display were unlucky to come away with only the 1 point.

Not from the front row this week, but from Row Z of a freezing cold Billy Wright Upper. Along with around 2000 other Wolves supporters and chairman Sir Jack Hayward, I watched Wolves 1-1 draw on the video wall at Molineux. The atmosphere was fairly good even in the freezing temperature and rain - Wolves even managed to put on a half time show.

I was glad to see Paul Ince back in the line-up following the toe operation that kept him out of Wolves clash with Coventry last week. Ince put on a good performance and had quite a few chances where he was unlucky with his last touch. That seemed to be the problem for most of Dave Jones' men yesterday - build up play was superb but final touches were nothing to shout about. But shout we did at Molineux when Mark Kennedy placed the ball in the far side of Tony Warner's net following a great flick on from Carlton Cole. This however, seemed to be Cole's only real contribution to the game. A few unlucky shots were all the on loan striker seemed to do on the day - he was eventually substituted for an equally disappointing Kenny Miller. Sturridge was the man with the finishing problem though - one shot in particular was disappointing when Deano was left one on one with the keeper and still managed to put the ball wide. Kennedy however impressed throughout the game and played some superb crosses and worked 110%.

Again, the Wolves defence was at it's strongest - Denis Irwin showing his true form, keeping the back line in shape. Another great game (as usual) for Jo Lescott and equally as good performances from Marc Edworthy and Mark Clyde rounded off a good day for the men at the back. Matt Murray was at fault when thumping the ball out to Roberts, which unfortunately led to Millwall's equaliser. But this was the young keepers only mistake and he pulled off several good shot stops through the afternoon - one in particular a one on one stop by spreading his body.

Final Notes: *As I said before – Wolves obviously have a finishing problem. Many opportunities were squandered because of the final touch. *Kenny Miller on the other hand seems to have a problem with his first touch – he can’t trap the ball. *Kevin Cooper proved he isn’t just good as a sub – he put on a great show in midfield. *Great to see Sir Jack sitting with the fans and not in his executive box for the beam back – also great to see so many turn up at Molineux.

MY MAN OF THE MATCH: Mark Kennedy