Dogged Stoke slow Wolves' momentum
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Stoke City
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Your support makes all the difference.Having spectacularly blown their promotion bid last season, Wolves must fear their latest effort to reach the Premiership turning into another test of nerves after their failure to break down relegation-threatened Stoke loosened their hold on a play-off place.
After a tense match of few chances at Molineux last night, it was the visitors who had cause to feel encouraged after a solidly defensive performance gained a vital point. For Wolves, news of wins for Ipswich and Norwich made the loss of two even more keenly felt.
"People will say that's two points dropped, but I think it's a good point because if you can't take three, you'd want to take one," the Wolves manager, David Jones, said. "I hate negativity and I always try and look on the bright side, no matter how bad it looks you always look on the bright side – and I know that better than anyone."
Stoke's game plan had been clear from the outset as their manager, Tony Pulis, picked a starting line-up that included only one striker. Faced with the challenge of a heavily defended opposition goal, Wolves had looked in particular to the runs of the winger Mark Kennedy on the left and Denis Irwin, overlapping on the right, to stretch the visiting defence, but failed to carve out more than a handful of openings.
Moreover, though, it was obvious where Stoke's priorities lay. They proved they could be a threat going forward when a clever back-heel from Clive Clarke needed goalkeeper Matt Murray to be alert.
What was more, Wolves betrayed distinct edginess and craved the relief of an early goal. However, when Alex Rae was presented with a free header from Kennedy's 29th-minute corner, he failed even to hit the target.
Rae missed another chance in first-half stoppage time and frustration increased for the home side 10 minutes into the second half when Kenny Miller's appeal for a penalty after colliding with Wayne Thomas was rewarded with a yellow card for diving.
The match was the 10th in 27 days for Jones's team, but it was not so much lack of energy as lack of invention that posed so many difficulties for Wolves.
In a desperate last 10 minutes, Kennedy had a fierce effort blocked almost on the goal-line and the substitute Kevin Cooper saw a left-foot shot pass only an inch or two wide but the breakthrough proved elusive.
Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-4-2): Murray; Irwin, Butler, Lescott, Naylor; Newton (Cooper, 76), Rae (Cameron, 76), Ince, Kennedy; Sturridge (Proudlock, 58), Miller. Substitutes not used: Oakes (gk), Clyde.
Stoke City (5-4-1): Crossley; Thomas, Williams, Handyside, Shtaniuk, Hall; Wilson, Gunnarsson, O'Connor, Clarke; Cooke (Greenacre, 83). Substitutes not used: Banks (gk), Gudjonsson, Hoekstra, Iwelumo.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
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