The first half was a non-event in an attacking sense. We were set up defensively, with Ashbee and Livermore in the centre of midfield to protect, a strong back 4 and two hard working wide players. It was almost an away performance. We put incredible pressure on the ball whenever Wolves had possession, starting with the front two. I can't remember a game in which a team was forced to play back to the goalkeeper so often. Wolves didn't have the option to bring the ball out of defence, they were forced to hit the ball long and our back four swept up everything. Wayne Brown in particular, was excellent. Because of the pressure Livermore and Ashbee put on the ball, Wolves were never going to find the time or space to play balls in behind, which meant Keogh and Rosie Lee had to play with their back to goal and that played into our hands. Turner and Brown read the long balls well and found the right position to defend everything. If Andy Dawson didn't check them as he left, there's a chance he took their right winger, Jarvis, home with him in his pocket. Wolves only threat came from breakaways and the lively Bothroyd on the right. That threat was unsubstantial. We shut down shooting opportunities, crossing opportunities and we didn't give them any hope from set pieces, because we generally didn't concede any. We were disciplined and intelligent.
The down side was that we worked so hard to stop any Wolves danger that we didn't find any attacking rhythm. We lacked quality in the pass and aside from one Ricketts run into the box, we didn't threaten from open play. Ashbee `scored' from a great corner routine, but Livermore was ruled offside when he received the ball from Campbell, which looked a harsh decision. In the second half, we grew in confidence, having snuffed Wolves out easily. We got the ball wide and found support from Ricketts and Dawson. Garcia and Hughes had looked the best chance we had of creating anything in the first half and they were highly influential in the second. Wolves still created nothing and Ashbee and Livermore continued to dominate the midfield. Campbell and Folan held the ball up well and we produced 3 or 4 moments of real quality to cause them problems. Shortly after half time, Campbell received the ball from Livermore, played a superb one-two with Hughes and then passed for Garcia to tap in at the far post. It was a fantastic pass from Hughes and amazingly, only his second best pass of the game. The second goal also owed much to Hughes' quality, plus some incredible composure from Andy Dawson. Under pressure on the half way line, Daws ignored the temptation to knock the ball aimlessly towards Folan and held onto the ball. Hughes, who'd cut inside, moved out to provide support, threatened to run passed the full-back, before laying off to Daws who crossed superbly. Garcia had a good header saved and Campbell knocked in the rebound from an improbable angle. Interestingly, a few minutes before the goal, we had a free-kick that Wolves defended by charging out and catching us offside. I'm pretty sure at least one of theirs tried it again from Dawson's cross for the goal, but they weren't all on the same wavelength, because someone was left in and played Garcia well onside.
The game died after the second goal amongst a mass of substitutions. We weren't complaining, though. We killed the game well. We defended stubbornly and continued to protect the back four, meaning Wolves were never encouraged that there was something in the game for them. We caught them on the break twice, with Folan just failing to latch on to two delightful flicks from Barmby.
Myhill had a solid game. He was decisive and safe. He didn't actually have to save anything, but he came well for crosses and swept up the ball well when it bounced over the defence. Ricketts had a tough task against Bothroyd, who won the aerial battle, but he grew into the game and won everything on the ground. Dawson continued his fine run, calm in possession, positionally strong and dealt with everything easily. Brown had his finest game for a while, as mentioned. Turner was his effective, ungracious best.
The midfield pairing was interesting, with Livermore preferred to Marney. We missed Marney's craft, but we looked very solid. You could argue that if Marney had played, we might have created more against a poor Wolves midfield, however, had Livermore not played, the Wolves midfield might not have been so poor. When everything else clicked and Garcia and Hughes started to find Folan and Campbell, we looked much better. Hughes has settled nicely into the wide position. He's got a lot of stamina and always has a calm head. He's always available to pass to and has eliminated some of the sloppiness in his distribution. He causes defenders a headache, he generally cuts inside, but he can go outside and he finds Dawson with tremendous slide rule passes. They look a really good combination. On the other side, Garcia also looks the part. He doesn't have great acceleration and his crossing is hit and miss but he carries the game to the opposition. He's a proper right midfielder; he's a tremendous defensive asset who covers in front of (and occasionally behind) Ricketts. He's another strong runner with lots of stamina who collects the ball deep in our territory and breaks with it. He has a great eye for goal. He's doing a very similar job to the one Jason Price did a few seasons ago but at a much higher level and with more quality.
I don't know about everyone else but I got very excited when I realized it would be Campbell and Folan up front. To be far to our front lot, Campbell and anyone is exciting, but with Campbell and Folan, you just know you will get bags of pace and movement, they'll work hard and harass defenders, Folan will win headers and Campbell will get in behind defenders. That's exactly what happened. It's a partnership with bags of potential. They are impossible to defend against. Both have incredible balance and the ability to turn quickly. Each is quite ungainly too, so you have no idea where they'll run, both with and without the ball. I think unorthodox is the official term.
A quick word for the referee, Chris Foy. Another idiot who generally does Premiership games and doesn't know how to handle a game with real tackles. He was woeful in the first half. He gave a million free-kicks, whether an offence actually occurred or not and was massively culpable for the dire spectacle up to half time. Free-kicks he awarded against Folan (1st) and Ashbee (2nd) defied belief. Very poor.
We're approaching 2008 in a very strong position. We have a first eleven capable of matching most and great options on the bench and in the stand. We have too many players and there is plenty of wheeling and dealing for `wor Phil to do in January. There are plenty of things to be positive about at the moment. Even including the two awful away displays recently, our form in the last 10 reads WWWDDLLWDW, which is not too shabby. We should all accept that a mid-table finish will be very respectable and not get too carried away. However, there is plenty of opportunity to dream a little, if you dare.
Ratings: Myhill 7, Ricketts 7, Dawson 7, Turner 7, Brown 8, Garcia 8, Hughes 8, Ashbee 7 (Marney), Livermore 7, Campbell 7 (Barmby), Folan 7 (Windass).
Merry Christmas, everyone!