Express & Star

Wolves blog: Hosting the Late Show yet again

That’s why you don’t leave early at a Wolves game.

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Willy Boly scores

Nuno’s men seemed off the boil for most of the Newcastle game – but you can never write off this team.

As the match dawdled to a close, it looked as if Wolves’ time had run out – Newcastle were wasting time all over the shop.

Their full back, DeAndre Yedlin, seemingly forgot how to hold or catch a ball and took an absolute age to take a throw in – even when on a yellow card.

Actions like that paired with their late, lengthy substitutions, meant that Willy Boly’s thumping header felt like pure vindication.

Newcastle fans must be sick of the sight of Boly and Wolves, as we have snatched four points from them in injury time this season – and they feel outraged that our man mountain wasn’t sent off at St James’ Park in December.

Last season, when Wolves went for a training trip out of the country, they came back revitalised and hit a great patch of form.

During this match, it just felt like it wasn’t going their way. Newcastle won almost every loose ball, every header all game. Should they have returned earlier than the day before a match?

Newcastle relied heavily on Salomon Rondon, who is an absolute tank and caused our defence all sorts of problems – would he fit into our team?

Raul Jimenez was well off form – his miss, along with two other close-range chances from Dendoncker and Doherty among other spurned opportunities, seemed to sum up Wolves’ evening.

Rui Patricio appeared to catch whatever John Ruddy had in our last game at Molineux, letting Newcastle score softly at the near post following a poor kick.

Newcastle’s gigantic defensive midfielder, Sean Longstaff, had a solid game against us and was seemingly always in the way of us breaking through their defence.

The atmosphere was one of the strongest in mid-week for a while, which is probably thanks to the opposition fans actually contributing.

Ultimately, Wolves still had enough to win the game - if Newcastle hadn’t scored first, it probably would have come.

They had a whopping 13 corners (to Newcastle’s one) but didn’t manage to cause much trouble, with Newcastle having all eleven men back in their own box each time.

Wolves are still unbeaten since the loss to Man City, and are a solid six points clear of Everton, West Ham and Bournemouth - which truly is superb.

The Bristol City match is a huge one on Sunday - the Championship club is on fantastic form, winning nine straight games, and will certainly not be pushovers.

They may also harbour a grudge from last season, when - in what is becoming par for the course now - Wolves scored an injury time winner.

We are on for the greatest Wolves season in generations, and a place in the last eight of the FA Cup will make for a scintillating end to the season.