Source: Telegraph
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 West Ham United 2: match report
West Ham inflicted a numbing sense of anti-climax on Wolves and a gold-bedecked Molineux, consigning the Championship winners to an opening-day defeat with goals around the midway point of either half from Mark Noble and Matthew Upson.
Noble, the England Under-21 captain, struck from long range, while centre-back Upson, a reported target for Manchester City, used his aerial strength from a set-piece.
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On each occasion, Wolves were guilty of standing off the scorer, although they will have taken heart from an encouraging debut by Nenad Milijas, the attacking midfielder Mick McCarthy bought from Red Star Belgrade.
The pre-match razzmatazz included a rallying address by Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, now a Wolves vice-president.
His appearance was preceded by snatches of his music, starting with “Gone, Gone, Gone”, which aptly summarised the club’s fortunes during their only previous Premier League campaign in 2003-04.
They opened with a 5-1 drubbing at Blackburn, did not win until the eighth attempt and finished bottom.
Since McCarthy had also occupied last place as Sunderland manager, “The Only Way Is Up” might have been a more apposite musical choice.
In the event, by midway through the first half, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” was booming out from the West Ham contingent. After resisting Wolves’ early surge, including a mis-kick by Andy Keogh when Greg Halford’s header found him unmarked, Carlton Cole’s pass to the edge of the “d” was controlled by Noble and curled beyond Wayne Hennessey.
West Ham went for the jugular. Around the half-hour mark, Hennessey twice denied Cole, once after Noble had put the England striker clean through, with Jody
Craddock clearing off the line from Kieron Dyer in between. When that spell failed to produce a goal, McCarthy’s side retaliated and Milijas had a shot deflected tantalisingly wide before half-time.
Wolves, having not mustered an effort on target in the opening 45 minutes, managed the feat three times in 90 seconds after the break.
Milijas, with two long-range drives, and Jody Craddock, in a goalmouth scramble, found Robert Green at his most agile. But with 21 minutes remaining, Upson rose to convert Noble’s corner, a prosaic reward for West Ham’s greater poise.
