Classic match report - Albion 1 Wolves 2, 1989

The script was written, and Steve Bull delivered the killer line.

In the first Black Country Derby for five years Bull returned to the Hawthorns for the first time since leaving for Wolves in 1986 - and won it in the last minute.

The sadly departed Mark Kendall was just as much of a hero, though, saving a penalty as Wolves came from behind to edge above Albion in mid-table in the old Second Division.

It certainly wasn't a classic Wolves performance, with Graham Turner's team playing poorly and nicking the points.

But, remarkably, Wolves have only won once since at the Hawthorns, so it's certainly one to savour, not least for those joyous scenes in the away end after Bully's magic.

Sunday October 15, 1989

Bully returns to haunt Hawthorns

By David Instone

Midlands football's most endearing fairytale rolled on into a new chapter yesterday when Steve Bull left Wolves looking down on the club he has haunted for the last three years.

With magnificent sense of occasion and a swing of his deadly right foot, Bull turned his Hawthorns homecoming into the sort of dramatic triumph demanded by the script of his spectacular rise to fame.

Somehow, it seemed inevitable he would score on the day hostilities resumed between his past and present clubs. Yet, for more than 89 minutes of an absorbing battle, he had been restricted to one of the big parts on a stage which offered him the chance to heap further embarrassment on those who authorised his £64,000 departure from Albion in 1986.

Then, for virtually the first time, he escaped the shackles of Chris Whyte, chested down Andy Mutch's far post cross and finished characteristically with a shot which fizzed low into Albion's net.

Bully: "I was rubbish"

Bull responded by throwing himself into a somersault in front of Wolves' ecstatic fans, and, a few seconds later, the final whistle signalled the start of lengthy celebrations of an unlikely and undeserved win.

And so, after three seasons of monitoring Bull's heroics from a respectful distance, Albion's board and fans have at last suffered a glimpse of his explosive talents on their own doorstep.

"It's nice to come back here and score the winner in the last minute, but I've got no hard feelings against Albion," Bully told me afterwards.

"I'm just glad we won a derby after losing to Villa. But I'm not that pleased personally. I was rubbish. I was tired after coming home from Poland and I just didn't feel like running."

All Albion will feel like doing today is cursing their luck.

They could and should have won, having most of the play and chances, and forcing Wolves to ride the luck with deserted them in their previous games against Villa and Sheffield United.

The outcomes of a fierce game of five bookings also hinged on the bizarre interference of referee Kelvin Morton, who provided a passable imitation of a man who has no grasp of the 'needle' in a local derby.

Morton's frequent unnecessary interventions for the mildest forms of physical contact could have been forgiven, however, had he not also awarded Wolves a comical free-kick which brought their equaliser and then gave Albion a penalty which should have restored their lead.

Kendall saves a penalty

Stuart Naylor was left shaking his head in disbelief in the 45 minute when, in the sort of pause which occurs every time a keeper has the ball, he was penalised for time-wasting – and then beaten by a low 15-yard free-kick by another ex-Albion man Robbie Dennison.

If Morton, an accountant, got his sums wrong in Wolves' favour then he evened things up when Andy Thompson was guilty of no more than leaning on Tony Ford ten minutes from time.

But Bernard McNally, who used to resent playing on Sundays because of his religious beliefs, saw his well-placed spot-kick superbly pushed aside by another born-again Christian Mark Kendall.

Kendall's performance was one of his very best for Wolves, highlighted by tremendous saves from Mark Barham, John Thomas twice and Don Goodman as Albion's pace and artistry repeatedly promised them a fourth successive victory.

Brian Talbot's sweet volley was the very least their first-half supremacy deserved and it was only after Wolves had thrown the tigerish Keith Downing into the fray early in the second half that they began to trade chance for chance.

Mutch, who had an effort disallowed for offside 12 minutes from time, was let down only by poor finishing after two or three superb runs, Downing had a header brilliantly tipped over and Dennison more than once needed only a killer final ball to put the seal on another classy contribution.

It all added up to a vibrant game, offering encouragement that these old rivals – now with 86 victories apiece from their 227 first-team meetings – can still make this a season to savour.

ALBION: Naylor, Bradley (Robson, 24), Burgess, Tabot, North, Whyte, Barham, Goodman, Thomas, McNally, Ford. Sub: Bartlett.

WOLVES: Kendall, Bellamy, Venus, Streete, Westley, Vaughan (Downing, 53), Thompson, Gooding, Bull, Mutch, Dennison. Sub: Paskin.

Attendance: 21,316