Wolves back on track
Following a run of two tame defeats, the latter away at Cardiff, it was vital that Wolves returned to winning ways if confidence were not to be further eroded. Today’s visitors Charlton arrived at Molineux unbeaten in the league and it was clear from the organised manner in which they played the first half that this would be no Bank Holiday stroll in the proverbial park.
Though Wolves dominated possession they failed to create a clear cut opening and went in at the break on level terms.
The home side began the second half brightly but as is so often the case it was the team who had spent most the time on the back foot who took the lead. In minute 54 Charlton moved the ball slickly before finding Icelandic international Johann Berg Gudmundsson on the left hand edge of the eighteen yard box. Moving the ball to his favoured left boot, he fired hard and low, Carl Ikeme allowing it to slide under his body, and into the net.
Heads could have dropped but Manager Jackett is nothing if not a phlegmatic presence on the touchline. His calm demeanour transmits itself to the team but for Wolves the turning point came with a dual substitution in the 62nd minute - one enforced the other tactical. First Adam Le Fondre came on for the injured Nouha Dicko, whose lack of a first touch continues to blight his game. Then Kevin McDonald was replaced by Sheyi Ojo whose left foot now provided a natural outlet on the left flank.
If would take barely three minutes for the change to have an impact when in minute 65 Matt Doherty fired hard and low across the box from the right wing. Instinctively David Edwards back healed the ball towards goal. At sixes and sevens the Charlton defence returned the ball to him. Now facing goal he made no mistake with his second attempt, poking it home from just inside the six yard box.
Twenty minutes later Adam Le Fondre sealed affairs when he calmly side footed Ojo’s fine left wing cross into the bottom right hand corner of the neat.
The victory, Wolves first at home, comes against a background of off field player distraction. Richard Stearman and Rajiv Van La Parra both missed the game due to interest from other clubs and for much of the week Benik Afobe has been subject of ever increasing offers from Norwich. His finishing doesn’t warrant a £10m price tag and for that reason alone I would let him go. So long as the funds are used to re-invest in the team, a footballing midfielder a priority. I fear that Conor Coady is sadly not that player. Anonymous for much of the second half he lacks the speed of thought and eye for a pass that Wolves need to open up a defence.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Ikeme 5, Doherty 6, Ebanks Landell 7, Hause 7, Golbourne 7, Henry 8, Edwards 6, McDonald 6 Sub Ojo 7, Coady 6, Dicko 5 Sub Le Fondre, Afobe 6 Sub Wallace
Charlton Athletic: Pope 6, Solly 7, Bauer 6, Diarra 6, Fox 6, Berg Gudmundsson 7, Cousins 6, Bergdich 6 Sub Jackson, Kashi 6, Ahearne-Grant 5 Sub Ba 6, Makienok 5 Sub Vetokele 6
Referee: Chris Kavanagh 8
Attendance: 19,583
©Mark Brennand