Wolves continued their fantastic start to the season with two draws this weekend. Wolves’ first game was a friendly against their nearest rivals Wyrley Panthers in a game which was played in superb spirit and a great advertisement for Wyrley Juniors.
It was Panthers who started the quicker of the two teams and took the lead after 15 seconds with some sloppy defending from a throw in allowing the Panthers forward to ghost past a stranded Cameron and head past a helpless Jordan in the Wolves goal.
If the truth be known Panthers could have extended their lead just a minute later when the Panthers midfielder won the ball on the edge of the box and smashed a shot off the upright and behind for a goal kick.
As the game wore on Wolves slowly started to regain composure with Callum grabbing the midfield by the scruff of the neck, ably assisted by Ed & Jake on the flanks whilst Lily was starting to pose a threat around the Panthers box, even though she had two Panthers defenders constantly snapping at her heels.
Wolves had a great shout for a penalty on 8 minutes when Regan made a great clearance which fell to Ed who struck the ball goal wards only to be stopped by a Panthers arm. Although the shouts of “Penalty” came loud & clear from the Wolves supporters the referee did not share their conviction and waved play on.
It would have been easy for Wolves’ heads to drop, but just the same as they have done all season they dug deep and kept on going. Just three minutes later Wolves got their break when Lily smashed a shot goal wards only to see it strike the hand of the Panthers defender. In fairness the referee had no choice on this occasion, as Stevie Wonder could have made this decision for him as he pointed to the spot. Up stepped Lily to calmly dispatch her 17th of the season and make it 1-1 at half time.
The second half was an evenly balanced contest with both teams trying to play some entertaining football. The introduction of Tom & Josh to the Wolves team added a bit more balance to the team and ensured that Panthers would not breach the back line again.
Full Time Wyrley Panthers 1 v Wyrley Wolves 1
Wolves’ second game proved to be a great lesson in never underestimating a team on face value. Wolves strode confidently onto the pitch to face a bottom of the table Sporting Khalsa potentially believing that the points were already in the bag. What happened over the next 30 minutes will stay in the memories of the players for a very long time as Khalsa proved to be very difficult to break down.
From the kick off Wolves took the game to Khalsa creating chance after chance but just not being able to convert. With each chance that passed Wolves looked to be getting more & more desperate as they lost shape and composure. As Wolves pressed for the opener they left Tom woefully exposed at the back and when Khalsa broke free on the counter attack they picked Wolves off and took the lead with the simplest of tap in’s.
At half time Wolves regrouped and set about getting back in the game. For the last ten minutes of the game Wolves could have auditioned for “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” as they set camp in the Khalsa half and starved Khalsa of possession. With eight minutes remaining Wolves thought they had levelled the score when a shot from Lily looked to have crossed the line only for the referee to rule the attempt out.
Wolves kept on pressing and finally got the break through with six minutes remaining when Lily hit a shot at goal, the Khalsa keeper spilled the shot and there was Callum to bundle the ball across the line. With their unbeaten run now back in tact Wolves pushed for the winner but just could not find the winning goal.
Full Time Wyrley Wolves 1 v Sporting Khalsa 1
Hold your heads high gang, you learnt a valuable football lesson this weekend but whichever way you look at it that is 14 games, 420 minutes, 7 weeks, 25,200 seconds unbeaten!!! Well done.
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