Saunders Makes His Point As Wolves Bite Back

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Blackburn Rovers

(Johnson 74, Rhodes 26 (pen))

Dean Saunders reign at Molineux began in slightly controversial circumstances, as Wolves came from behind to claim a deserved point against Blackburn. The new manager received a fantastically warm welcome from Wolves fans as he was introduced before kick-off but will be disappointed at how his side failed to claim all 3 points, despite having the best of large periods of the match.

Rhodes tucks away the controversial penalty

Saunders only made 2 changes to the side that had started Stale Solbakken's last League game away at Palace, with Jake Cassidy making his first league appearance for Wolves in place of Ebanks-Blake, and Ronald Zubar surprisingly being brought in in place of Stearman. And the game started brightly for Wolves, who threatened Blackburn several times as they piled on the pressure in the opening 10 minutes - Kevin Foley and Jake Cassidy going closest. At the other end, Rhodes nicked the ball past the on-rushing Ikeme but, with the goal-gaping, Rhodes touch prodded the ball far too wide and Wolves were able to clear comfortably. But with Wanderers on top, the game-changing moment arrived. A soft-free kick was awarded to the right of the Wolves penalty box and, despite everyone expecting it to be whipped in, the ball was played short to Ruben Rochina. The Spaniard weaved his way into the box without any real challenge, before Bakary Sako foolishly dangled a leg out. This was just the invitation Rochina needed and, despite there being minimal contact (indeed Rochina was already on his way over before he clipped Sako's trailing foot), the penalty was awarded. In fact, the referee had ignored the dive, and waved play on. But it was the baby-faced linesman who was conned far too easily and flagged furiously. As Saunders put it after - "It was a young linesman on the far side and he’d probably told his family that he was running the line on Sky Sports...he might have thought ‘If I give a couple of offsides, the camera will go on my face so at least the family will know I was there,’ and he couldn’t wait to give the penalty". It was an abysmal decision but credit to Jordan Rhodes - he had to wait a long time to take the spot-kick, but when he did, it was brilliantly tucked away and even though Ikeme guessed the right way, the big keeper stood no chance. From that moment, Blackburn were in the ascendancy and Rochina again went close - testing Ikeme from range. But Wolves went in at half-time hugely unfortunate to be behind.

Johnson celebrates the equaliser

The manner of Blackburn's lead did appear to knock the stuffing out of Wolves slightly, and in the second-half Blackburn started the better side - with Rochina again proving to be a thorn in Wolves side, forcing a slightly scrambled save from Ikeme. But Wolves eventually found their feet and started to get into the game a bit more - Johnson having an effort cleared off the line by Murphy and then heading one only just over the bar from a free-kick. But these were to prove sighters for him and with 15 minutes to go, substitute Jamie O'Hara picked the ball up on the halfway line with his first touch, and with his second, played a sublime ball in for Roger Johnson to head home. After that, there only looked like being one side who would go on to win it, although neither side had any real clear-cut chances to score - Wolves perhaps coming the closest when Sako flashed a ball across the face of goal with nobody getting the vital touch.

Referee wanted to be centre of attention with some odd decisions

It was difficult for either side to really take full control of this game, as it was such a stop-start affair with niggly fouls and free-kicks conceded by either side. The officials seemed determined to be the centre of attention and none of them looked like they knew what they were doing. Several times one of the linesmen gave throw-ins the wrong way, only to be overruled by an unsure referee. Then there were incidents such as David Davis' unusual booking for the most minimal of contacts as a Blackburn player appeared to go over easily again. But, bar the penalty, the two most amazing decisions of the night were the failure to send off 2 Blackburn players. Firstly, after Colin Kazim-Richards had been rightly booked for lunging in at Karl Henry, the winger then went studs-first with a high boot on Ronald Zubar. Not even a free-kick was awarded and Kazim-Richards escaped without a second yellow. But even more bizzare events were to follow in the second-half when Martin Olsson, already booked on the hour mark, smashed Slawomir Peszko down on the right of the Blackburn area with 2 minutes to play. It was a needless challenge and it looked certain the Swede would be shown a red. But to everyone's amazement, he walked away with no further punishment. Admittedly, for Wolves, Karl Henry rode his luck occasionally, the midfielder having little nibbles at Blackburn's midfield despite having been booked.

Saunders may face FA charges for his comments about the officials

Now I've seen some dreadful officials watching Wolves down the years - Uriah Rennie, Mark Halsey, Howard Webb, Darren Deadman just 4 names that spring to mind over the years that have had more than one dreadful game officiating Wolves. But Friday's performance of Northamptonshire referee Dean Whitestone was by far the worst, most incompetent I have ever had the misfortune to witness. We all thought the standard of refereeing in the Premier League was bad - I think we can all agree it's nothing compared to how bad Championship officials are. Half the time it's like they've just pulled blokes off the streets and put a Football League outfit on them. Dean Saunders will surely face FA discipline for his comments about the linesman, but the simple fact is the Wolves boss has hit the nail firmly hit on the head. Something needs to be done about the standard of officials in this country because it is flying downhill at the moment.

Cassidy looked promising on his first Wolves League start

One thing's for sure at Molineux, it's not just the manager that's the problem this season - be it Solbakken or Saunders. Yet again we saw players backing off from the opposition, losing possession far too cheaply, and hitting it long and hoping for the best. As has been the case for the last 3-4 years, it is blatantly obvious that it is the players who are limited and not good enough. They are exposed by much cleverer footballers and become like headless chickens. Foley, Berra, Ward, and to a lesser extent Zubar, Henry, Ebanks-Blake and Doyle, all look like they're struggling and youngsters like Doherty, Batth, Davis and Cassidy must surely be pushing for a first-team spot now. I know it's seen as risky to put youngsters in in a relegation battle (just look down the A41 towards Villa) but sometimes it can be a source of fresh impetus and with the amount of deadwood at the club at the moment, this could be just what we need to get us out of the mess we find ourselves in.

My Wolves MOTM: Roger Johnson. I'm becoming like a broken record now, as yet again he held the defence together and took control at the back. And when the strikers couldn't score, he took that job on himself too! Another impressive showing from him.

Wolves In A Word: Unchanging