Nervous win ensures safety
6th May 2023
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Aston Villa 0
Whilst the crowning of King Charles III was drawing a global tv audience, a few miles further north, a local football derby was consuming a slightly smaller gathering though possibly a more febrile one than that in Westminster Abbey. With the home side’s Premier League status still not finalised and, on the back of an appalling defeat away at Brighton a week ago, it was an odds on certainty that the Wolves faithful were in for a nervy afternoon. Which is how it panned out as the Old Gold fought hard to seal a narrow victory and finally put their Premier League survival beyond doubt.
The game had still to get going when Wolves secured a corner in the ninth minute. Its delivery was delayed by Aston Villa’s attempts to deny Matt Dawson a free run at the ball. The effort however backfired for when the ball was finally delivered it was not Dawson they should have been watching but Toti Gomes. He’s a tall lad at the best of times but off the ground even taller, and stretching every sinew his head made contact with the ball to head it in off the underside of the bar. Wolves never score goals from corners but here, for the second time in consecutive home games, they had opened their account from one.
Four minutes later Jose Sa pulled off the save of the game to deny Emiliano Buendia. A week is a long time in football. Seven days ago the Portuguese keeper was wretched against Brighton, yet here he was making amends. The save however failed to stem Villa dominance, as they moved the ball quickly through the lines and it seemed only a matter of time before they broke Wolves resistance. On 33 an excellent move ended with Ollie Watkins latching on to an enticing cross. Yet with the goal at his mercy the Villa striker headed straight into Sa’s grateful arms. There was a cumulative blowing out of air. Wolves had ridden their luck. Then, on the stoke of half time and against the run of play, Matheus Cunha fired over following a good lay-off from Diego Costa.
The visitors had certainly edged the first half and one sensed that they would do the same in the second. But it was the home side who emerged from the break the livelier, when Pedro Neto set Diego Costa free on goal. A 27 year old Diego would have put the opportunity away. The current version is a few years older and not quite as sharp, his shot being saved comfortably by Emiliano Martinez, to prolong second half nail biting. But the nail biting was not quite as intense as it might have been as first half Aston Villa failed to show. For their part Wolves harried at every opportunity forcing Villa manager Unai Emery to ring the changes, none of which brought marked improvement. That said on the hour Ashley Young went close from a well worked free kick and ten minutes later Tyrone Mings missed a glorious opportunity when he volleyed over the bar from Buendia’s delightful free kick. All that remained was for Matt Dawson to receive one of the loudest cheers of the game when in the second minute of time added on, he marshalled the ball into a Villa corner, for some much needed time wasting.
The loudest cheer arrived a minute later as referee Stuart Atwell brought the game to a close. As the Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui turned to the Director’s boxed and beamed he could rightly reflect on a job well done. When he arrived just before Christmas to take charge, Wolves were languishing at the foot of the Premier League and awful. They are now in 13th on 40 points and safe.
The lad done good.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 8, Semedo 6, Dawson 6, Kilman 7, Gomez 7, Lemina 6, Neves 7, Nunes 7 Sub Moutinho, Cunha 7 Sub Hee Chan, Costa 7 Sub Collins, Neto 7 Sub Traore
Aston Villa: Martinez 6, Young 6 Sub Santos Silva, Konsa 6, Mings 6, Moreno 7 Sub Digne, Traore 6 Sub Bailey 5, McGinn 7, Douglas Luiz 6 Sub Kamara, J Ramsay 6, Buendia 7 Sub Duran, Watkins 6
Attendance: 31,641
Referee: Stuart Atwell
©Mark Brennand