Don't Look Back In Anger

Wolves 0-2 ITFC 29th December 2012

The last game of the year was especially anticipated by me, "Another must go to" when the fixtures came out. It became more nailed on when Mick McCarthy took over as manager, returning to the club that sacked him ten months earlier.

As it turned out Sharon wanted to stay home with Rudie and Max had to work.Luckily I managed to get a lift with Andy who introduced me to some of the best takeaway food I have ever had at a football ground, chicken tikka in a freshly baked Nan bread.

Nice!

The biggest crowd of the season at Molineux, 28,595 turned out for McCarthy's return and they gave him a very warm reception. I spoke to one of the stewards about Ståle Solbakken, he told me that the new manager was not very popular with the fans and agreed that Wolves had made a huge mistake sacking Big Mick, I'm pleased that they did!

The Ipswich players were really up for it and it was obvious that they wanted to get a result for the boss and TC. They certainly looked the part from my vantage point high up in the newly built Jack Cullis Stand. We got a lucky break after just two minutes when the referee waved away what I thought was a stone wall penalty, Kevin Doyle looked like he was brought down by Luke Chambers but the man with the whistle was having none of it. 

Town took the lead after thirty-three minutes with a coolly taken finish on his weaker right foot from Aaron Cresswell after he was setup by DJ Campbell. The home fans were voicing their frustration at their sides performance and booed them off at halftime, they obviously felt that they were heading for their second home defeat on the trot over the festive period.

"Hey Mick"

Home and away

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Guirane N’Daw almost got the second half off to a perfect start when he forced wolves keeper Carl Ikeme to tip his twenty five yard shot over the bar. Campbell however doubled the lead when he beat the wolves offside trap, running onto Chambers' headed clearance he ran with the ball and coolly slid it past the oncoming Ikeme after sixty four minutes. Solbakken responded by making three changes which didn't go too down well "You don't know what you're doing" rang out around the ground. 

With time running out and the game seemingly lost we were treated to some Black Country humour when they sang "Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we're going to Shrewsbury" (their opponents in next weeks FA Cup) which drew warm applause from the Blue Army supporters.

By the time the final whistle blew Molineux was sparsely populated but the home fans that remained again applauded the jubilant pair of McCarthy and TC and they lapped it all up generously shaking the players hands of both teams before coming over to salute the traveling fans. The day certainly lived up to my expectations, soap opera at its best and on days like these I just love football.

A happy return