Wolves 0, Manchester City 3: Lisa Smith's big match verdict
MANCHESTER City finally found their first win on the road since August but Wolves fans were left feeling deflated, not just by the defeat but some controversial decisions by infamous “beach ball” referee Mike Jones and his assistants.
A Carlos Tevez strike either side of a free-kick from substitute Javier Garrido was Wolves’ undoing, although the home supporters will feel aggrieved the kick was even given after the linesman and, in turn, the referee refused shouts for offside seconds earlier against Craig Bellamy.
Instead Jones chose to give City the advantage for a Michael Mancienne foul on Gareth Barry and the visitors were on their way to a second win in as many games under their new manager Roberto Mancini.
The win pushed City level on points with Villa in sixth place in the Premier League while Wolves sit in 16th place.
But for 25 minutes Wolves, led by determined skipper Karl Henry, made it tough for their guests and it was perhaps a compliment to them that City switched to a 4-4-2 formation early in the game as they tried to break Wolves down.
Manager Mick McCarthy had started the game, not with 11 wholesale changes this time, but five with Chris Iwelumo, Kevin Foley, George Elokobi, Andrew Surman and Mancienne coming in, while City called back Bellamy and Micah Richards.
The home side were looking to emulate fine recent wins over Tottenham and Burnley and started brightly enough with Foley finding Kevin Doyle twice in the opening exchanges before Surman scuffed a half-chance just wide.
But if you don’t take your chances at this level you pay and it was perhaps ironic that Bellamy was in the end involved in City’s opener.
The fans in the South Bank gave Bellamy dog’s abuse throughout the game, even chanting the name of the player once dubbed “the most hated man in football,” ex-Wolves defender Kevin Muscat, who was responsible for putting the Welshman out of the game for four months in 1998 during a clash when the two met while Bellamy was at Norwich.
But the fans’ attempts to rile him merely served to spur the midfielder on and it was his telling run and cross which found Tevez for City’s first goal of the night – with a bit of a deflection from Christophe Berra for good measure.
Despite the sucker punch, Wolves pressed on with Doyle shooting just wide of Ireland team-mate Shay Given before Vincent Kompany was forced to put the ball behind under pressure from an attacking Surman.
Mancienne also tried to put pressure on the defence in his new midfield role, while Foley twice set Doyle on his way only for the Irish striker’s killer touch to desert him.
Wolves lost Berra at half-time with concussion after an awkward fall and he was replaced by Richard Stearman, but despite all their efforts, Wolves could not make up the deficit.
Every decision seemed to go City’s way and as they sought a second goal and they were rewarded courtesy of Mancienne’s foul on former Villa midfielder Barry. McCarthy and the majority of the stadium felt play should have been stopped when Bellamy strayed offside but the officials thought otherwise resulting in Garrido’s master stroke.
“They must be paying you,” the Wolves’ fans levelled at referee Jones – the man dropped from top-flight matches for a while after his decision to allow the “beach ball” deflection against Liverpool to stand against Sunderland in October.
In the 83rd minute, however, Tevez wrapped things up with a sweet strike after good build-up play by Martin Petrov and Bellamy. Wolves tried to salvage something late on through Stearman and substitute Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, but like that dreaded beach ball, Wolves had gone flat.
They can at least take heart from the performance as they prepare to go again with a busy week of league fixtures and the small matter of the FA Cup just around the corner.
WOLVES (4-4-2): Hahnemann 6, Zubar 7, Craddock 6, Berra 5 (Stearman 45, 6), Elokobi 6, Foley 7 (Jarvis, 79) Mancienne 6, ★ HENRY 8, Surman 7, Doyle 7 (Ebanks-Blake, 77), Iwelumo 6. Not used: Hennessey, Milijas, Maierhofer, Castillo.
MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Given, Richards, Toure, Kompany, Zabaleta, De Jong, Barry, Petrov (Robinho, 83) Ireland (Garrido, 56) Tevez, Bellamy. Notot used: Taylor, Sylvinho, Vidal, Boyata, Weiss.
Referee: M Jones (Cheshire).
