It's been a fair few years since I've posted on here, of course this was a monumental occasion and it had me gripped and have been closely following the forum with the build up and the reaction. Thought I'd post my reflection, mostly from on the pitch - the football.
There was initial fears going into this, of course the record but I had to brace myself the time would be up eventually and the picture going into the game displayed a major gulf between the teams, as with the two divisions, proved in a few recent games. The reality was that they had significant investment and real star quality in the squad of a very good standard of premier league level, with a strong chance this would showcase itself possibly in a very embarrassing and damaging manner. Just maybe the saving grace would be our impressive home record.
Result aside I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome and general nature of competitiveness of the match, in many areas we may have just shaded it and more than held our own, there was not much in that game at all. We looked composed, defended well, maintained a solid shape, comfortable possession and I would say for a good portion of the game looked the more threatening team. I find it hard to fault any of our players performances and I would say as a collective unit did a very good job, arguably better on that front, Wolves didn't look great.
I mentioned the word star quality, that was the difference, as expected. Neto, Cunha and I think Kilman were the difference in the match with some exceptional performances or decisive moments. I would say Decisive is another word you really highlight when you look at a few of our moments, not consistently glorious chances but one of the Thomas-Asante chances goes in and you're looking at a completely different game. That's the levels of the two teams at the end of the day and I'm very proud with what the lads put into that and deserved their round of applause at the end.
I was alarmed by the goalkeeper decision going in, I have since read the comments by CC but again I think its on of those what if's that he got wrong on this occasion. I wouldn't say glaringly obvious errors, I'm not a goalkeeper but sometimes you have the simple perspective that a goal doesn't look right going in, both have a case for that but more strongly the second goal. Made a good save after that, and Grittiths looked composed on the ball, seemed to be a calm head but that one was a worry from the point of teams being released and I believe proved right.
That's about it on the match, I really hope it comes round again sooner rather than later, with fans, up until the obvious it gave me everything that is so appetising about the fixture, even if I thought the Wolves fans were very quiet.
The rest, I guess we have to wait but it doesn't look good, I don't know how deep the punishment goes. The Wolves fan would most likely deserve everything he got from those around him if he did provoke and from what I've seen that wasn't too excessive. It's very much the assumption that an Albion fan provided the ticket so there's definitely shared blame. I await the punishments. Real shame though, that includes the other bits, more so than what happened on the pitch.
