Source: Daily_Mail
Wolves 2 Fulham 1: Stats the way to deliver first home win at the top
It was an afternoon of firsts for Wolves. A home victory in the Barclays Premier League and an opening goal for record £6.5million signing Kevin Doyle.
While those statistics will make heartening reading for Wolves supporters, they were not as important as the one concerning manager Mick McCarthy.
This was his first triumph at home in the top flight of English football. At his 22nd attempt. He never savoured such a moment during his tenure at Sunderland and was forced to wait until his club's third fixture at Molineux before breaking his duck.
Fulham played the willing stooges but McCarthy being McCarthy, he was keen to divert the attention. 'Yep, my statistics are rubbish,' he said. 'It's normally highlighted when I get the sack. That's life I suppose.
'Look, I couldn't care less. I tend to look at what's in front of me, rather than behind me. My stats are good, bad and indifferent. I suppose that particular statistic is one to throw up. But it's gone now.'
Yet McCarthy was keen to praise Republic of Ireland striker Doyle's first goal. Fulham had nervously survived a Greg Halford howitzer but were not so lucky in the 18th minute.
Christophe Berra flicked on and Doyle diverted his header into the corner of the net for his goal. McCarthy added: 'Kevin had a hernia and he's not been up to speed. He's been gaining fitness on the hoof by playing in games, so this is great for his self-belief. He's our big signing and he's been brought in to score goals.'
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson stood strangely unmoved by the catalogue of errors that passed before him. Fulham wasted possession and Wolves were quick to take advantage.
Six minutes after the re-start, Clint Dempsey's sloppiness allowed David Edwards to race through and he lifted a return pass from Andy Keogh into the net for the second goal.
It seemed all over at that stage but then Fulham's Bobby Zamora was hauled down in the penalty area by Michael Mancienne and Danny Murphy calmly converted the spot-kick in the 65th minute to give the visitors some hope.
Hodgson said: 'We made two blatant errors and were punished for them. We left it late to really start playing. I don't think I've seen us give the ball away as much as we did here.
MATCH STATS
WOLVES (4-4-2): Hennessey 7; Halford 6, Mancienne 6, Berra 8, Elokobi 6; Edwards 6, (Maierhofer 70min, 5) Henry 6, Castillo 6, Jarvis 7; (Kightly 85) Keogh 6, Doyle 6. (Ebanks-Blake 77).
Booked: Halford.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Schwarzer 5; Pantsil 6, Hangeland 5, Hughes 6, Konchesky 5; (Greening 71, 5) Duff 5, Etuhu 5, (Kamara 77, 5) Murphy 6, Dempsey 4; (Davies 61, 6) Johnson 4, Zamora 6.
Booked: Pantsil.
Man of the match: Christophe Berra.
Referee: Kevin Friend.
'But you have to give Wolves credit because they pressurised us extremely well and we didn't deal with it.'
It was left to McCarthy to have the final word. He said: 'Danny Murphy shook my hand at the end of the match and said that he hoped we stayed up. I almost added: 'I hope you do, too.'
'But that's football. If we lose today, it's been a shaky start. We've won and now it's a solid one. Like I say, that's life.'
