Training ground exercise as Wolves maintain chase

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 v Fulham FC 0

Rare are the occasions when one can attend a game of football and relax, as if lying in a hot tub, knowing that the result is beyond doubt. For the second time in four days at Molineux, Wolves cruised to a comfortable victory. But with all the teams above them also winning, the gap from sixth spot remains at five points.

As with the game v Rotherham the result was a curate’s egg, for although Wolves scored after only ten minutes - Danny Batth converting a Bakary Sako corner - Fulham created the better first half chances yet failed to convert any. Perhaps their most glaring miss came on the half hour when Ross McCormack found himself free on the penalty spot, with only Tomasz Kuszczak to beat. But his shot was tame and easily gathered by the Wolves goalkeeper.

Eight minutes later Wolves extended their lead following a passage of play where the ball was seemingly passed to death. It required the ever opportunistic Sako to break the mould, his pure strike from 25 yards giving Marcus Bettinelli no chance. And then on the stroke of half time Sako was at it again this time receiving a slide rule pass from Kevin McDonald before advancing towards goal and firing the ball through the legs of the hapless Fulham keeper.

With that goal so did the game end as a contest, the second half being little more than a training ground exercise and an opportunity for coach Jackett to rest both Sako and Nuoha Dicko. Quite what Fulham Coach Kit Symons made of it all is a mystery. He did, I believe, have eleven players on the pitch but graft would not be a word to attach to their performance. Furthermore any semblance of Premier League pedigree has long since gone. If they continue in this vein the trapdoor to third division obscurity awaits…… something which, for this season at least, Wolves need not worry about.

Wolves: Kuszczak 6, Iorfa 6, Batth 6, Stearman 6, Golbourne 6 McDonald 7, Edwards 6, Price 6, Sako 8 Sub van la Parra, Dicko 6 Sub Henry, Afobe 7 Sub Doyle

Fulham: Bettinelli 5, Richards 6, Hutchinson 5, Bodurov 5, Stalylidis 6, Fofana 6 Sub Kavannah, Tunnicliffe 5, Christensen 6, Ruiz 5, Rodallega 5 Sub Woodrow, McCormack 5

Attendance: 17,744

Referee: Graham Salisbury 8

MB