Wolves 1-2 Cardiff (report)

Dave Jones made 2 changes to the side beaten by Tottenham Hotspur in midweek. Peter Whittingham replaced the injured Kerrea Gilbert with Ledley moving to left back and Kevin McNaughton switching to the right. Paul Parry returned on the right wing inplace of Willo Flood. New striker Jason Byrne made the bench for City.

Cardiff had an early chance after Thompson flick-on found Chopra running through but the out-of-form striker could only hook wide. At the other end, Neil Alexander had to be alert to save with his feet from a Craig Davies shot. The Welsh centre-forward was unlucky moments later when he charged down an Alexander clearance and got to the rebound first but the referee gave a foul against Davies when he looked to challenge fairly.

On 25 minutes, an eerie silence descended on Molineux, broken by a few brave cheers by those City fans who managed to get into the home stands, as Cardiff City took the lead. A long ball down the centre found the Wolves centre-backs napping and MICHAEL CHOPRA nipped in to lob neatly over the stranded Matt Murray and into an empty net. A big goal for the team and also for Chopra whose form has deserted him recently having scored 1 goal since early November.

Cardiff captain Darren Purse was forced off injured and replaced by Roger Johnson shortly before half time but Cardiff had few problems to deal with other than advertising boards blowing onto the pitch disrupting the game briefly. Some poor finishing from Wolves wasted what chances they did create as they failed to test Alexander.

HT:Wolves 0-1 Cardiff City


Wolves came out strongly in the second half but Chopra went close with a swerving shot with Chopra hitting the post minutes later while Parry headed over from the rebound.

The next 25 minutes, Wolves really took a hold on the match with Welshman Craig Davies causing problems. Olofinjana hit the post for the home side from a Davies cross and the two combined shortly afterwards for Olofinjana to net the equaliser from close range.

Wolves were looking lively and far the more likely to score again. Cardiff brought on new signing Jason Byrne for his debut but Cardiff were short of possession and Craig Davies drove low onto the post before being withdrawn.

The Bluebirds were becoming more involved and Stephen McPahil began to pull strings in the City midfield and Chopra looking lively up-front. With the game coming into the closing stages, Chopra got free seeing his shot blocked, but the Geordie showed good awareness to square to JASON BYRNE to finish from 4 yards for a debut goal for the Irishman.

FT: Wolves 1-2 Cardiff

An excellent result for Cardiff, they performed solidly despite losing inspirational captain Darren Purse in the first half. Roger Johnson and the brilliant Glenn Loovens made a series of clearances under pressure and Cardiff deserved their bit of luck. The win will give heart to Cardiff and comes over a good side in decent form. Hopefully we can gather some momentum again now and push on.

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