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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019:02:16:12:04:18 by Cheshire wolf.

Just to let you all know I will not be providing regular updates on tonight's match because - weather permitting - I will be sat in the North Stand alongside Ivybridge Wolf watching it!! If a signal is available we will try to provide perhaps a half time summary.
Enjoy the game

Just got home - bet you're so glad you got to the match, Cheshire! Stats say 54% possession, 19 shots - and three goals, so far... Enjoy your celebrations afterwards! (you too, Ivybridge!)

Men against boys!
What a terrific performance tonight. Could have been more but for Fabianski. Great to meet up with Chesh!
Just another 4 hours to home! Who cares!
Brilliant. UTW

Wouldn't mind reading one of your match reports if you have time to do one. Have a safe journey back.

Well, we were brilliant. A great day.
We (two of us from the Ivybridge happy band of Wolves fans) travelled up early from Devon, afternoon steak dinner in the Claredon, up to the club shop then back to the Combermere Arms in Chapel Ash to meet up with Mr Chesh! We always had more than a passing interest in the weather - met office predictions of heavy snow just did not materilise, thank goodness. Cold enough however.
The Combermere - small but proper pub with a massive tree trunk in the gents. An interesting feature. Chesh met us at about 6pm and we had a good chat, Wolves and life etc ... great to meet him! A couple of drinks later and we were on our way to the match.
We sat in NU5, first time for me - what a terrific view. The new North bank has received critisism and yes, if you are at the bottom, I know you can get wet in rain, though at the top is great. I sat in NU7 for Leicester, another very good view despite being on the angle.
Fireworks and light show were a bit of an odd build up, though I have read this morning it was cut short due to one firework ending up landing on a woman in the Steve Bull (she's reported as being okay). Not like v Newcastle all those years ago. And no pre-match Hi-ho? Unsure why, first time for years and not played at the beginning of the second half either.
The match was great. A bit of a chess match at the start but by 20-25 minutes to half time we were clearly the better and more likely side, Jonny 'sign him up' Otto coming very close with a header before the Doc produced the first of a string of fine saves from the annoyingly excellent Fabianski.
Half time. I see Chesh was indicating we might have produced half time updates .... no chance, the queues to the loos were massive lol!!
Second half, I'm not going into too much details. There is too much to tell. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! West Ham hardly had a sniff, our defense, just after conceeding 2 and 3 and 3 looking comfortable. Coady, his usual excellent self. If fit however, I would expect to see Big Willy back v Everton, replacing Saiss. Harsh in many ways but I think needed.
Our midfield, so solid, The Donk continuing to do the simple things right, Neves and Moutinho pulling strings and Jota and Raul 'sign him up' Jiminez responding and wonderful. Jimmy Jiminez worked hard as always and got his goals, very centre forward-esque! Great ... his deft chip for the third was sumptuous with Jota repaying the set up for his hat-trick v Leicester.
Final word on the team for the Doc - what a superb display, tireless, penetrating, dangerous, determined, a thorough and constant pain in the neck for the Hammers.
The only negative was Fabianski ... I would have preferred to see another 2 or 3 goals!
The three of us walked back to the West Park where we'd parked, personally I didn't feel the cold such were the high spirits, we said our goodbyes to Chesh and on our way back down the M5 .... got home at 2.30am, asleep just after 3am.
Worth it? You better believe it!!
This side we have were just outstanding yesterday - another special memory added to the bank.
UTW!!

Lovely stuff. Delighted for the pair of you, and for Wolves.

Quote:

Risca TM
Lovely stuff. Delighted for the pair of you, and for Wolves.

Thanks Risca Good to see you are still popping by every now & again!

I can echo Ivybridge's sentiments - it was indeed good to meet up with the two of them and spend an evening watching our team playing so well.

It was disappointing to see such a poor display from West Ham who didn't even really make a match of it. We were a bit worried in the first half that too many of our passes were going astray, particularly between Raul & Jota, but they soon sorted themselves out.

Connor Coady showed his mettle again throughout the match, breaking up play, and then distributing superbly, finding Doc out on the right wing time after time. He got stopped in the first half - we couldn't see what happened - but he was treated for ages which was worrying, but apparently it was a flailing arm from Antonio which gave him a bloody nose, but that didn't stop him, and apparently Gareth Southgate was watching from the stands!

In the second half we launched a serious assault on West Ham and, as Ivy has said only Fabianski kept us at bay, making at least four excellent saves, mainly from Jota. So it was a relief when Saiss finally managed to get it past him.

A mention for the referee David Coote. He gave us very little, and appeared to be reluctant to make any difficult decisions, particularly when he denied us a penalty when Zabaleta barged Jota off the ball. I look forward to seeing that again on the highlights this pm. On the other hand I thought the tackle by Ruben Neves on Arnautavic (who we were supposed to be expecting great things from) was high, and caught him on the knee which ended his game. The ref played on then booked Neves which was said to be for dissent after the penalty decision he 'discussed' with the ref, but I wondered if it related to the tackle which ended Marko's evening and he left the ground in a leg brace!

As Ivy has said Raul gave an impeccable performance which was topped off by his two goals, the second of which was impudent. The crowd rightly sang "Sign Him Up".

Incidentally the The Daily Mail says the Wolves fans told Arnautovic he perhaps should have taken up the China option. I can tell you it was a lot more direct and rude than that - and quite funny!!

It was great at the end of the evening to see we are in 7th place in the league, one place below United and above Everton who we play Saturday. As always Nuno says the league position means nothing. I say let's all enjoy it whilst it feels so bloody good!!!

Hi Cheshire and Ivy, thanks for the match reports.
Im looking forward to Match of the Day tonight.
Just one question - was it
- a great wolves performance
- a poor West Ham performance
- or a bit of both?

I think a bit of both, however I will place greater emphasis on our efforts. Reason being the match started even-ish, as I mentioned, chess like and we were the team that grew into it and imposed our play on West Ham. In short, we bossed it such that by the second half we were so on top it was glorious / embarrassing!! The BBC described us as ‘imperious’. I’ll go with that.

I’ve seen the Sky highlights. During the match, I was convinced the foul on Jota in the second half was a penalty, less convinced about the one on Doc in the first half. Molineux was equally enraged about both. The pictures tell me definitely two penalties. Disappointing. Nice to hear Dangerous Dave doing the co-commentary.

Ivy, after watching Match of the Day and reading numerous reports it does appear that it was a fantastic performance by wolves.
I suppose any 3-0 win in the Premiership is a fantastic win but we totally dominated from start to finish.