Rae brightens foul climate
Coventry City 0 Wolves
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Your support makes all the difference.Wolves stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches to move into the First Division top six yesterday, after surviving Coventry's early assault in a bruising Midlands derby at Highfield Road.
Coventry's Youssef Chippo was booked after just four minutes, following a foul on Alex Rae. Calum Davenport joined him for bringing down Denis Irwin just three minutes later. Paul Ince of Wolves and Coventry's player-manager, Gary McAllister, also clashed in a bitty opening. Youssef Safri became the third Coventry player to be shown a yellow card for a foul on Rae after 21 minutes.
While Coventry contained Wolves during the early clashes, the turning point came when McAllister again collided with Ince, and was forced off with a missing tooth and mild concussion.
From then on, the initiative lay with Wolves. Coventry received their fourth booking nine minutes later following a foul by Craig Hignett foul on Rae. That free-kick came to nothing, but just 90 seconds later another set play gave Wolves the lead. Fabien Debec could only parry Rae's effort and Joleon Lescott drilled home the rebound.
Coventry struggled after the interval, their best effort coming when Hignett forced Matthew Murray into a flying save after 57 minutes. Assistant manager Eric Black conceded that Coventry's game had fallen apart after McAllister's departure, but insisted: "This team is not all about Gary McAllister. The others are professional footballers and they have to get on with it and take responsibility."
David Jones singled out the Ince's return as the key for his side. "He has a lot of experience," said the Wolves manager, "and with him back in the side we settled down after weathering the first 15 minutes. We wanted to break the sequence of drawn matches and we went to have a real go at getting three points."
Jones had seen his wish secured 13 minutes from time, when Rae raced on to a long pass to tuck the ball away.
Coventry City 0 Wolves 2
Lescott 38, Rae 77
Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 18,998
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