Source: Telegraph
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0: match report
It has not been the happiest of new years for Wolverhampton Wanderers but they might even have succeeded in putting a smile on the face of their infamously grumpy manager Mick McCarthy with a first victory of 2010 at Molineux on Wednesday night. [LNB]The Old Gold had not beaten Tottenham at home since 1981 but a solitary goal from Dave Jones ended that barren sequence and lifted his team out of the relegation places. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League tablePremier League actionPremier League fixturesTelegraph player raterDefensive poser for RedknappSport on televisionSpurs were desperately disappointing in striving to consolidate their pursuit of a top four place and seldom raised their game above the mediocre, the latest damp squib in a sequence of three league games against West Midlands clubs that have yielded just two points. [LNB]An ice coating on the pitch supplied by a pre-match snow shower livened up the surface and it was Spurs who began with a spring in their step as David Bentley tested Marcus Hahnemann with an angled effort that the American goalkeeper tipped over the top. [LNB]However, the chance that fell to Niko Kranjcar's after Jermaine Defoe's clever flick invited a finish but the Croatian was unable to deliver and once again Hahnemann was able to save as he dashed from his line. [LNB]Wolves, though, began to establish a foothold and more than once Jermaine Jenas and Michael Dawson were found wanting as the home side pressed for the lead. [LNB]A clumsy challenge on Matt Jarvis by Dawson might have warranted a penalty by another referee but as it was the Londoners were punished in the 27th minute by a thoughtful move initiated by Jones. [LNB]His 1-2 with Kevin Doyle opened up space and allowed Jones to find Jarvis wide on the left. His centre caught several Spurs defenders wrong-footed or sliding in the wrong direction but not Jones, whose run into the 18-yard area was concluded with a solid side foot volley that swept beyond Heurelho Gomez. [LNB]If the conditions encouraged a brisk passing game, Eidur Gudjohnsen, making his Spurs debut on loan from Monaco, should have been in his element but despite a couple of trademark tricks, the Icelandic forward's contribution gradually faded before he made way for his sportingly cultural opposite, the beanpole Peter Crouch. [LNB]Perhaps Spurs manager Harry Redknapp had tired of seeing his expensive players failing to pass the ball to each other's feet but at any rate a change in direction, skywards rather than along terra firma, appeared to be the tactical shift. [LNB]That aerial route reaped even fewer rewards for Spurs who were encountering stubborn resistance at every turn in the Wolves back four. [LNB]Despite seeing plenty of the ball, Bentley was rather profligate with his distribution from the right wing and on the one occasion Tom Huddlestone was allowed time to wind up his prodigious right foot, his final shot fizzed wide of the target. [LNB]As a young ballboy acted swiftly to retrieve the loose ball, Hahnemann told him to calm down and take his time. He needn't have bothered -- Spurs ended the game in the same meandering fashion that they had performed for most of it. [LNB]
