Let the talk begin. Let the hype commence. Two fiercely contested Black Country Derbies will determine who earns a day out at the new Wembley and a chance at promotion. Mick McCarthy has had his lads playing excellent stuff to be in this position. They are a young, hungry side and they probably feel they still owe us for the two results we earned against them earlier this season. On paper, looking at our statistics, Albion are the deeper, more talented side. Unfortunately, football is played on grass and not paper. Our talented players have mostly squandered opportunities in the last quarter of the season. Will our team finally shine through when it matters the most? The only way this might've been better is if we were playing the W***es in the final. It would've been great to have two warring factions of the Black Country turning Wembley into a giant cauldron of noise with a ticket to the Premier League at stake. Still, a tough test will await the winner of our neighbourhood squabble in either Derby or Southampton.
Wolves have a 20 year old goalkeeper making his debut today so WBA should try and take full advantage.
W***es have had most of the chances and a fair amount of pressure... we've barely held them off. Still, a very nervous 1-0 to us for the moment....
1-1 Jody Craddock cancelling out Phillips opener. Two very well taken goals. Glad I stayed in to see this. Wolves are attacking more; however, defensively they look messy. Goalkeeper howler almost cost them a second. Both teams are really going for it. The second half should be interesting.
DAMN. Olofinjana makes it 2-1 to THEM. It's been after a goal like this that Albion have come completely apart in recent weeks. Hopefully the lads will show a bit of calm.
Them 2 Us 3 Full time... or should I say HALF time? What a game. End to end stuff. And now we go back to the Hawthorns 90 minutes and a win or draw away from Wembley. There's still all to play for, and we cannot rest on a one-goal lead Wednesday night. We've got to really go for it again right from the start. Despite our surrendering two goals, Dean Kiely was massive in goal today. HUGE. We would probably be going into the second leg 4-3 or 5-3 down if not for him today. Our anticipation on defence needs to be far better. They were carving us open with precise passing both on the ground and in the air during most of the first half. Exciting stuff! COME ON YOU BAGGIES!!!
Losing Matt Murray to a broken shoulder in practice yesterday obviously hurt, but Wayne Hennessey did probably about as well as could be expected for a 20-year old being dropped into a semifinal with millions of dollars on the line. Wolves are still in it, and it probably was better for Hennessey that match 1 was at Molineux to let him get his feet wet. It's about what I expected, one goal between them going to the Hawthorns, with no away-goal advantage, if I remember the playoff rules correctly. I expect more of the same on Wednesday.
You just answered my question mate... are away goals counted in the playoffs? If Wolves win 2-1 at the Hawthorns then it will be penalties then right? I prefer it this way. They say that away goals encourage attacking football but I think it (can be) is the opposite - look at what happens in the promotion playoffs for example... the Southampton - Derby match going on right now is a good example.
And the Southampton-Derby match does confirm that there is NO away goal advantage in the playoffs, so should Wolves win 1-0 tomorrow, we'd see extra time, and possibly penalties.
Sucks that Wolves are going to lose this. At least they'll add some color to the Prem league. West Brom are just another unfashionable blue and white side that needs to stay in the Championship.