Wolves Face Big Week As Blackpool Get Revenge

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Blackpool

(Ebanks-Blake 15, Ince 45, 78)

Tom Ince equalises for Blackpool on the stroke of half-time

Blackpool handed Dean Saunders his first defeat in charge of Wolves on a gloomy afternoon at Molineux. As has often been the case for Wolves on home soil this season, the game started so brightly. Zubar and Peszko were causing Blackpool all sorts of problems early on, while stand-in left-back Kevin Foley (in for Ward who injured himself in the warm up) looked comfortable against Thomas Ince. And it was down our impressive right-flank that we took the lead - the rejuvenated Ronald Zubar marauding down down the wing before playing in an early cross for unmarked Ebanks-Blake to nod home his 11th goal of the season. And for the next 30 minutes, Wolves looked comfortable. Blackpool never really threatened and it looked like Wolves were going into half-time with a deserved lead. Indeed, they could've added to it, with Kevin Doyle clipping the crossbar with a header. But disaster struck at the end of the first-half when Johnson and Ikeme suffered a real communication breakdown. The centre-half attempted to shield the ball from Blackpool for Ikeme to collect, but mysteriously seemed to pass it back to the goalkeeper too. Because of Johnson's touch on the ball, Ikeme hesitated in coming out to gather it, for fear of giving a free-kick away, and Ince nipped between the two to level for the visitors. It was a goal completely against the run of play but, due to the nature of it, one that looked to have broken Wolves.

Blackpool celebrate Ince 2nd, and winning, goal

Wolves, understandably still shell-shocked, started the second half on the back foot and it took them about 15 minutes to get going again. But despite that, all they really had to show for the second-half was a golden opportunity for Ebanks-Blake to regain the lead. The ball fell to him about 6 yards out, but all the striker could do was blast the ball straight at the feet of Gilks. If the Ince equaliser broke Wolves, this well and truly shattered them for that afternoon and Blackpool saw their chance for revenge (after Wolves stole the pre-Christmas points at Bloomfield Road). And so, 12 minutes from time, Ince was given far too much space to cut inside and shoot from 25 yards. The ball swerved, but Ikeme will be disappointed not to have got a stronger hand to it. With that, the fans knew it was game over and Wolves, despite a few corners seemingly building pressure, never really threatened Gilks. To compound the Molineux misery, Roger Johnson - who harked back to last season with a dreadful game - got himself deservedly sent off for a ridiculous clash with Angel Martinez in the 90th minute. The pair seemed to tangle with each other, tugging each other's shirts before Johnson lost his temper and swung an arm at the Spaniard's face. It was foolish of him to get involved and react, and means he misses the next 3 games against some very tough opposition.

Roger Johnson foolishly sent off for clashing with Martinez

In truth, this was a game of two sides who rarely threatened the opposition goal but yet who both could've won. For all their good play, Blackpool seemed to be carried by Thomas Ince (who, by the way, looks a fantastic player. If Zaha's worth £15m, then Ince must be at least £20m) while Wolves looked like they had the potential to carve the Tangerines open, but that final ball was all too lacking. Again, I fail to see what Kevin Doyle brings to the team as all too often he played the wrong pass, or ran himself down blind alleys. What we need is a striker who can score goals and that is why it baffles me that Jake Cassidy isn't given a chance. It baffles me even more that, as of this morning (Monday 28th Jan), we appear to be selling Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to Crystal Palace for £1m. When a club is in the mess we're in, it makes no sense to be selling off the only player who seems to be scoring. The loss of Johnson for the next 3 games is a blow too, although hopefully it will now see Danny Batth given a chance - not that he has much hope of success alongside Christophe Berra.

Ebanks-Blake: Only one who looks like scoring right now

The team's failure sparked angry chants from the stands, with fans asking the board where the money from the Summer transfer sales has gone. The answer will have to be given this week - hopefully in the form of new signings (and quality ones at that!) otherwise the backlash from the fans if we suffer another home defeat to Leeds in 2 weeks time could be nasty. What worries me the most is that these players don't seem to want to play for the shirt, there's no real passion or drive there. Even players like Karl Henry seem to be meandering through games now. There's a lot of deadwood at the club and if we can clear some of it out this week then that's great. However, selling your top goalscorer and only real goal-threat is not really the answer to this. It is going to be a long 3 days for the fans, and a difficult 3 days for the manager and board - who know they must get this right to have any chance of some success when the Early Bird Season Tickets go on sale. It's do-or-die for Morgan and Moxey.

My Wolves MOTM: Ronald Zubar. For the second week running, the full-back stood out amongst the dross. Looked good going forward, whilst he kept the tricky Matt Phillips in his back-pocket for the entire game.

Wolves In A Word: Lacking.