Manchester United 1, Wolves 0: Bill Howell's big match verdict and player ratings
VIOLET Carson was just about to bid farewell as Ena Sharples down the road on Coronation Street when Wolves last managed a win at Old Trafford.
Two wins on the ground since the Beatles were mere forming larva down the road on Merseyside do not exactly make Old Trafford the luckiest of venues for Wolves.
American crooner Kenny Rogers was top of the charts with Coward Of The County when Mel Eves got that winner.
In five months short of 30 years since, Wolves hadn’t even scored at the venue.
But at approximately 8.29pm last night you’d have wagered a pretty penny or two on that drought ending.
Certainly the pre-match odds of 10/1 on Wolves causing an upset will have plummeted with the red card dished out to Fabio Da Silva.
There was never a hint of doubt that Da Silva deserved his marching orders in trying to rugby-tackle Michael Kightly to the ground.
True the teenage Brazilian initially slipped, but Sir Alex Ferguson, in excusing him afterwards, clearly missed a blatant attempt to stop a player heading clean through on goal with a one-handed tap tackle that Laurence Dallaglio in his pomp would have been proud of.
But despite enjoying the better chances and the lion’s share of possession, Wolves were never quite good enough to take charge of proceedings and in the end the ten men booked their place in the last 16 of the Carling Cup.
It is arguable that Wolves might not get a better chance of winning here in the next 30 years.
David Jones forced Tomasz Kuszczak into a fine one-handed save with the free-kick following the red card.
But the midfielder wasted a glorious opportunity at the end of the first half when his lob flew well over the crossbar when Gary Neville had presented him with a gift.
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