Wolves In 2004: January, February and March

A Hero For January!
By Scott Cooper
December 27 2004

WOLVES IN 2004: A 5-part special in which we look at Wolves in 2004. Today's Part One see's what happened in January, February and March.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS IN
2004

Part One

JANUARY

January will be a month which will live fondly in the memory of all Wolves Fans. It was a month saw Wolves turn the league table upside down and saw the Wolves board splashing out another £2M.

The month started in poor fashion as Wolves had to scrape a last-minute draw with Kidderminster Harriers in the FA Cup third round. A late Dwight Yorke goal snatched all three points away from Wolves against Blackburn Rovers at Molineux and Charlton beat Wolves 2-0 at the Valley.

A 2-0 second-leg win over Kidderminster Harriers put Wolves in the hat for the next round of the cup but the real drama came on the 17th of January.

Manchester United visited Molineux for the early Premiership Plus Sky Kick Off, but Wolves (bottom at the time) turned the tables around and a single Kenny Miller goal put Wolves in the news for creating the biggest shock performance in Premiership History. It was the first, and last time - a record which still remains - that Manchester United had been beaten whilst being top of the league since they had won the Premiership the previous season.

Wolves went on to steel a last gasp draw with Liverpool just four days later with Miller again the scorer.

Dave Jones added Carl Cort to his squad from Newcastle for £2M and Paul Jones also joined from Southampton. However the month ended with Wolves being knocked out of the FA Cup by West Ham and a point on the South Coast at Portsmouth.

FEBRUARY

Unbeaten Arsenal were the first visitors to Molineux in February, but Wolves seriously made them work for their three points.

Dennis Bergkamp had given Arsenal the lead, but Vio Ganea equalised shortly before half-time. Dave Jones' men had chances early in the second half, but Arsenal upped the tempo and Lauren and Henry added goals to ensure their unbeaten run continued.

A forgettable 4-1 defeat to Leeds United followed before a stirring win against Fulham where Carl Cort notched his first goal.  Wolves ended the month with a 0-0 draw away at fellow relegation battlers Leicester City.

 

MARCH

March was a month which saw Wolves ship no less than ten goals in three games, although nine were conceded in just two of the games.

Aston Villa thrashed Wolves 4-0 in the opening game of the month before Wolves headed to Anfield. Wolves looked set to win a well-earned point at the home of Liverpool but a late late goal from the home side ended all hopes.

Wolves had yet to win away from Molineux all season and few would not expect that run to continue as the boys from Molineux made their way to the riches of Stamford Bridge.

After an early Chelsea goal Wolves settled and following a Henri Camara leveler Jody Craddock put Wolves in the lead with little over 20 minutes remaining. However the Wolves joy was soon cut-short as Hasslebaink suddenly found his shooting boots and banged a quick hat-trick past Wolves, inflicting yet more misery.

Look out for events from April and May for 2004 tomorrow.