Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Town - Half-Time
Saturday, 18th Apr 2015 13:19

An own goal by former Blues loanee Richard Stearman has given Town a 1-0 half-time lead at Wolves.

Jay Tabb replaced Stephen Hunt at left midfield in a Town side otherwise unchanged from the team which beat Cardiff 3-1 on Tuesday.

Wolves, where Mick McCarthy spent six years as manager, Terry Connor was his assistant and briefly boss, and Hunt and Christophe Berra were players, included former Town loanee Stearman from the start at centre of the defence.

Town started the stronger, winning an early corner, then in the third minute Freddie Sears found strike partner Daryl Murphy inside the area to the right but the Blues’ 24-goal Championship top scorer shot across the face of goal and wide.

The home side began to get on top of a game played in sunny but breezy conditions and in the seventh minute Nouha Dicko did well to cut the ball back from the byline on the left having beaten Blues skipper Luke Chambers, but Berra diverted it back to keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who cleared.

Dicko was proving to be Wolves’ main threat in the opening minutes and on 10 the pacy frontman broke past Tommy Smith on the right but Berra was again there to challenge as he broke into the area.

Berra halted the Malian international’s progress again on the quarter hour after he had skipped away from Smith on halfway and was breaking towards goal.

Moments later, as the home side kept up the pressure, Wolves winger Rajiv van La Parra crossed from the right but was unable to find a team-mate.

Despite Wolves having looked by far the more dangerous side, the Blues went in front in the 21st minute. Bishop whipped over a corner from the right, Smith rose with Stearman, who inadvertently sent a the ball looping over keeper Carl Ikeme and into the corner of the net.

Smith claimed his fifth goal of the season but it seems likely to go down as an own goal by the former Town loanee, who failed to find the net for the Blues during his 15-game loan spell in the 2012/13 campaign.

The home side looked to hit back immediately, van La Parra shooting over and then Dicko failed to find the target with a header. However, the Town goal seemed to knock them out of their stride and the Molineux crowd quickly began to become frustrated.

On 33 Dicko cut into the area from the left but again found Berra in his way, the Scotland international this time blocking the one-time Wigan man’s shot.

Three minutes later, Jonny Parr was shown the game’s first yellow card for bringing down Benik Afobe as Wolves broke.

Wolves came within inches of getting back on terms in the 39th minute when Smith’s header from deep in the Town area fell to Dave Edwards, whose volley beat Bialkowski but struck the outside of his right post. Referee Stuart Attwell awarded a corner much to the surprise of the Blues players.

Two minutes later, Tabb was booked for a foul on Dicko, who required treatment on the pitch before continuing. The home crowd felt the challenge might have been worth more than just a yellow and the Blues midfielder was booed each time he touched the ball prior to referee Attwell’s whistle ending the half, signalling more boos.

While the Blues had found the pace of Dicko in particular hard to handle and Wolves had presented the greater threat for the most part, the home side had been prevented from creating many significant chances - with Berra usually the man in the way - before the Blues’ went in front.

The somewhat fortunate goal had quietened Wolves down until Edwards’s late volley off the post.

Wolves: Ikeme, Iorfa, Batth (c), Stearman, Golbourne, van La Parra, McDonald, Edwards, Sako, Afobe, Dicko. Subs: McCarey, Doherty, Henry, Doyle, Price, Ebanks-Landell, Jacobs.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Skuse, Bishop, Parr, Tabb, Murphy, Sears. Subs: Gerken, Fryers, Anderson, S Hunt, Chaplow, Williams, Wood. Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).

Photo: Action Images

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