NICK PARKES REPORTS ON WOLVES VICTORY AGAINST LUTON
BACK TO WINNING WAYS!
Wolves ended the wait for a win, picking up a crucial 3 points against relegation strugglers Luton Town in front of a noisy Molineux crowd.
Manager Gary O’Neil made several changes from the midweek defeat against Bournemouth with Cunha, Traore and Doherty with Doyle and Sarabia dropping to the bench and Santi Bueno missing through injury.
FIRST HALF
As Wolves kicked off in search of 3 points it was Luton who had the better of the opening minutes and they looked like a team fighting to survive with only Sa saving well from a long distance effort keeping the score at 0-0. We looked far too open between our midfield and defence, and with players like Barkley, they were able to cause us problems.
Wolves settled into the game and maintained possession without really causing any problems to the Luton goal, that was until the 20th minute as Lemina played a delightful through ball into the path of Hwang whose should have done a little better with his effort as it was easily saved by the ‘keeper’ and out for a corner. Hwang in particular looked energised in the first half by making off the ball runs and looked to drag defenders out where they didn’t want to be.
The game’s first turning point came towards the end of the half as Luton worked the ball well and ended up playing a beautiful cross into the box which found the head of danger man Morris but his effort was calmly saved by Sa, who then started a counter attack by launching the ball into Cunha who out fought his defender to win possession. He looked up and played in Hwang who worked it into the box on the left hand side, he dragged the ball back and tried his luck, the ball took a slight deflection and ended up in the back of the net. Hwang’s first goal of 2024 and what a massive difference it makes to have our quality attackers back in the line-up. 19 seconds between possibly going behind to going one-nil up!
SECOND HALF
Wolves started the second half well and controlled. A slip by a defender in the box allowed Hwang to play a low cross in the box from the right hand side and only a good tackle denied an adventurous Toti Gomes from getting on the end but he did win a corner. And Toti was not to be denied again as the resulting corner was well worked and played short, the ball was played to Lemina who swung in a first time cross which meant a diving Toti to head powerfully into the net. A great team goal and one from the training pitch. 2-0 up and seemingly in complete control.
After scoring our second, Wolves went on the attack to put the game to bed and with neat one touch football, the crowd chanting ‘ole’ Wolves created a hat full of chances but the killer touch eluded us. Semedo continuously found himself involved down the right hand side. And right on the hour mark, his bursting run and cut down found Traore whose shot from distance was blocked and out for a corner. Semedo in fact had the best chance to secure the 3 points after Doc found him with a great pass down the right, Semedo had space to run into and charged into the box, he should have taken the shot with his right foot but decided to be clever and roll the ball to his left, his feet got confused and his shot trickled tamely to the ‘keeper’.
That chance had the potential to come back to bite us as Luton pulled one back in the 80th minute. A shot from a Luton corner looked to have been shanked out for a goal kick but actually stayed in play, Wolves defenders switched off slightly and a ball back into the box found a Luton head at the back post and it fell nicely to Morris who volleyed home from close range. After all Wolves’s dominance and chances, the final minutes looked nervy.
Wolves, however, saw the game out well and only allowed Luton a half chance shot from the edge of the box in the final minute. And with that and the referee’s whistle, Wolves secured a big 3 points and put a stop to the unbeaten run.
TO CONCLUDE
Not a classic by any means but difficult games coming up, it was a big game for us and we did enough to get the victory. Luton looked off the boil but we didn’t allow them to dictate the play, we dealt with most of the long balls with Kilman having a good game. It was fantastic to see Cunha and Hwang play together for the first time since late December, it makes a real difference to see them link up well. Cunha however continued to come far too deep to pick up the ball which left Hwang isolated. Another player who dropped too deep was Lemina. They are players who can drag Wolves up the pitch and we need them in the positions to do so. My Man of the Match was Boubacar Traore who won the ball back countless times and looked a threat in attack, has been starved of minutes this season but took his chance well yesterday
All in all a good performance and it was good to see smiles back on the fans, players and managers faces!
ARTICLE BY NICK PARKES
Hi, I’m Nick! Born in Wolverhampton and currently living in Barcelona. I’ve been a Wolves fan since birth (dad’s choice) and was a north bank season ticket holder in my younger days. My favourite all-time player, Bully!
I’m an English teacher by trade and when I’m not scolding teenagers in the class, I’m either running, gardening or watching cricket!