On The Verge: Wolves 1 Blackburn 1

Well, you couldn’t have written it better.

One nil down, ten minutes on the clock and Wolves struggling to score for the fifth successive game.

If you’re like me, it won’t be the first time this season you’ve secretly said to yourself, ‘this will be it, this will be his day’ and finally, *finally*, it was.

Relief all round for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake

The cross was excellent, the header angled perfectly and Molineux practically lifted-off as 28,000 fans breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Well done Sylvan.

But it wasn’t just because our hero had finally registered a goal from open play. It was because we’d snatched a point from a game we looked incapable of getting back into.

In fact, had Blackburn been more ruthless in the final third, the game would have been over long before SEB salvaged a draw.

Credit to Mick McCarthy for making changes early. The 4-5-1 simply wasn’t working and when we gave that soft goal away to Ryan Nelson, the whole game plan went down the toilet.

I felt sorry for Dave Edwards, as I thought he’d been one of the better players in a gold shirt, but the introduction of Chris Iwelumo certainly gave us a focal point to our attack. In the second half particularly, he made a real nuisance of himself and allowed Doyle more freedom to roam. His presence also got the best out of SEB, occupying two center-halves and allowing his partner in crime to sneak in and head home that crucial equaliser.

We missed Jarvis, there’s no hiding from that fact. His pace and trickery are vital assets to this Wolves side and without him, we were even more toothless than usual in the final third. That’s no disrespect to Ward, who put in a number of inviting crosses and definitely improved as the game went on, but he simply doesn’t offer the same threat as our flying winger.

Jones had a decent game, always using the ball cleverly and pulling the strings on the rare occasions he had anyone in a decent position to pass to. Mancienne did his job well and offered important cover against the power and pace of Jason Roberts.

Personally, I thought Kev Foley was poor. He’s not a winger, we know that, but his general play wasn’t anywhere near his usual high standards. And when you’re chasing a game, his attacking weaknesses are highly exposed. A natural right-sided midfielder must be high on the summer shopping list.

The back four were all pretty sound, but again, I’d give special praise to Elokobi. He comes in for a lot of stick and much of it’s justified, but I thought he was superb yesterday. Zubar too, continued to look a class act on the other flank and he’ll certainly be an important player for us again next season. I’d be very interested to see how he copes in the center of defence.

Hahnmeann wasn’t quite as commanding as he has been. I haven’t seen the Blackburn goal back on the TV, but I suspect he could be attributed with a portion of the blame and that wasn’t his only mistake.

His kicking was poor, of that there can be no argument. He also seemed to come for a few crosses and then change his mind, which I’ve never seen before from the stocky American. In saying that, he handled superbly throughout, clinging on to a few powerful drives that some keepers might well have spilled.

So overall, not a great day at the office for Wolves, but a happy ending and we’re now very much on the verge of securing our Premier League status. That’s all that matters right now.

I must say I was disappointed to see fans spill onto the pitch. I know most people fall into the category of ‘well, if they’re doing it’ but personally I didn’t see the point. We achieved nothing yesterday. I would much rather have had the opportunity to applaud our players off the pitch, particularly SEB who has had such a hard time of things lately. It annoyed me that I was denied that right. But like I say, that’s just my opinion. For the record.