Wolves Vs Derby

The Front Row
By Dave Hunt
January 1 2003

Despite another stirling performance from young defender Joleon Lescott, Wolves failed to bag all 3 points in a 1-1 draw with mid-table Derby. Lescott was not the only youth player to put on a good performance, goalkeeper Matt Murray was also on top form.

After an attack by chairman Jack Hayward, you would have expected Dave Jones to make sure that Wolves won today’s game. And for the first 15 minutes, it looked like that may have been the case. But then on 15 minutes, Derby's Malcolm Christie slotted home completely against the run of play.

Wolves went straight back on the attack and nearly equalised when George Ndah shot low and hard, but Derby keeper Grant managed to trap the ball in between his legs. Ndah was also taken down in the box - right next to where I sit for a penalty call - the ref said NO. Then not much seemed to happen - both team went quiet and the game went very boring for a while.

Kennedy made a dreadful back pass on the 60-minute mark, but Matt Murray came to the rescue, making 2 excellent saves from Malcolm Christie's following shots. Then half way through the second half, the Wolves crowd came to life, with the south bank leading long, loud Barmy Army chants and briefly we were taken back to memories of last seasons happy crowds. Paul Ince was obviously inspired by the crowd, as the captain netted his first goal for the club on the 66th minute. Both teams then went on the defensive and stopped excellent attacks.

The game ended 1-1, which leaves manager Dave Jones's job with a question mark over it. Jack Hayward isn't happy - neither are the fans, half of whom booed the team off the field at the end.

Final Notes: *Lee Naylor and Kenny Miller - SHOCKING. Both played another dreadful game - Jonesy, why are the in the squad?? *Paul Ince was on top tackling form - nice to see some nice hard tackling! *Would the board be right to dismiss Jones? I'm going to say yes. He shows no heart during games - doesn't seem to want to get the team going.

My Man Of The Match: JOLEON LESCOTT