By Tom Bason
January 25 2014

Wolves beat Bristol City 3-1 today to keep the pressure on Leyton Orient and Brentford at the top of League 1. On his second debut, Nouha Dicko was instrumental in the first two Wolves goals, scoring one and seeing a second effort heavily deflected in, separated by a Sam Baldock penalty. Bakary Sako wrapped things up in the second half.

- The postponement of the game at Crawley couldn't really have come at a worst time, resulting in a 14-day gap since the defeat of Preston North End. While the players may have appreciated an unexpected rest (and also a decent chance to really integrate Nouha Dicko into the first team squad), I suspect that most at the club would have wanted to capitalise on the best 90 minutes of the season. With Jake Cassidy having gone back to Tranmere Rovers on loan, Dicko was given the opportunity to make his second Wolves debut upfront. In midfield, David Edwards was injured, giving Jack Price the opportunity to come back into the first team for the first time since picking up an injury in the Leyton Orient match. Kenny Jackett seems to have settled on his favoured formation, and appears to have a number of players who he trusts to play in it. Kevin Doyle, Leigh Griffiths and Bakary Sako are seemingly being excluded from the starting XI, and I guess no one would be surprised if these were to leave the club before Friday evening. 

- Wolves took an early lead, through the newbie Dicko. It is testament to Jackett's transfer policy that pre-match, Dicko was the only question mark. Sam Ricketts, Scott Golbourne, Kevin McDonald and James Henry have been undoubted successes, while Michael Jacobs has put some poor early performances behind him to become an undoubted starter. Anyway, the goal came from a poor Bristol City clearance, which fell to Jack Price. I felt his best option was to move the ball wide to James Henry, but instead he played the ball to Lee Evans who helped it on to Dicko in the penalty area. Again, I felt the best option was to square to Henry who was free on the penalty spot, but instead he turned his defender and fired past Elliot Parish at the near post.

- Bristol City played three central defenders, with Simon Gillet sat just in front. Greg Cunningham and Karleigh Osborne played more as wide midfielders than recognised wingbacks, as Bristol City played a 3-1-4-2 formation. Their two forwards, Sam Baldock and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas generally rotated in dropping off into the midfield. Bristol City’s lack of width in defence provided decent opportunities, as there were large areas of space in behind Cunningham and Osborne, which we didn’t really exploit. Cunningham especially could have been exposed, as he was pretty much the only Bristol City player on their left flank at all. James Henry, though, isn’t a winger who stays wide and there were plenty of times I wanted him to get on the touchline and take advantage of Cunningham’s isolation. As it was, it was Sam Ricketts who was able to get forward, and was very close with an left footed curling effort that went just over the bar.

- But, the problem with Bristol City only having one player on the left was that we couldn’t decide who was picking him up. Initially, Henry was happy to let Cunningham run past him, but the problem with this was that he then had 20 yards to run into before Ricketts was able to engage him. It’s a lot easier to stop a winger if he hasn’t had 20 yards first to build up a head of steam. But, the equaliser came when Henry did track Cunningham, and as they moved into the area, it was clear to everyone that Henry was going to foul him. Cunningham was always slightly ahead of Henry, and the only way Henry was going to stop him was to foul him. Sam Baldock then rolled the ball into McCarey’s left hand goal as the Irish goalkeeper when the wrong way. Incidentally, this was the second home game in a row where opposition fans were evicted from the Steve Bull Upper.

- Wolves took the lead for the second time, again thanks in part to a poor clearance from a Bristol City player. Again, Evans was able to feed the ball into Dicko in the penalty area, and again I thought Dicko picked the wrong option. This time, he pushed the ball far too wide and, instead of crossing he blasted the ball across the goal. Had it not deflected off former Villa defender Derrick Williams and bounced apologetically into the far post, it would have flown out to the touchline and out for a Bristol City throw in. This isn’t to be disparaging about Dicko – it was a tough game for him to play, given that he was effectively a lone-striker up against three defenders, but I would like to see him play with his head up a little. I think his understanding with the likes of Henry and Michael Jacobs will only improve as he plays more with them.

- We just about deserved to be back in front, and while I wouldn’t ever say we in total control, we could easily have added more goals in the second half on the counter attack. Jacobs failed to get a shot in after being released by Henry, Henry then put a shot wide of the near post after a Scott Golbourne cut back and Dicko scuffed a wide of the far post after chasing down a long ball. One combination that worked nicely was between Bakary Sako, who came on for a subdued Henry, and Lee Evans. Twice they exchanged one-twos to set up a scoring chance for the other, but on neither occasion could they hit the target; Evans firstly blasted over from 18 yards after a Sako cut back, and then Evans released Sako on the left who smashed his effort into the side netting.

- Those chances give an idea of the way we were able to carve out chances, but we were only able to take one of them. It was in a prolonged spell of pressure when we had a lot of possession around the Bristol City box. Firstly, Dicko went down claiming a penalty (my first reaction was it wasn’t a foul, and Dicko should have stayed on his feet), and then Golbourne put in an inviting cross that Dicko wasn’t able to convert. This time, instead of getting the ball wide, Jack Price lofted a nice ball into Evans who was making a run from deep into the penalty area. Evans tried to move the ball back onto his right foot, and the ball found it’s way to Sako who swept home from the edge of the area, firing the ball to the left of Parish for his first goal from open play since the start of November.

- Towards the end, Scott Golbourne was perhaps fortunate not to be sent off. He had been cautioned in the first half, although I really wasn’t sure what he had done wrong, then in the second half he felt he was fouled, fell to the ground and grabbed the ball with his hands. This is a real bugbear of mine; it frustrates the hell out of me when players force the referee to give a decision. But, on this occasion the referee didn’t give the foul and would have been well within his rights to show Golbourne a second yellow. A red card for Golbourne would almost have been disastrous given that Danny Batth went off injured. If Batth is to miss a game or two, it might give Matt Doherty a way back into the first team.