THE WARTHORNS
O’neil delighted with his Wolves... but off-pitch chaos overshadows Wanderers’ derby win
GARY O’NEIL played down this Black Country skirmish as little more than just another game.
At the end of 90 tumultuous minutes at the Hawthorns, his actions suggested this victory was far more than that.
Boss O’neil (right) walked up to the 4,000 joyous old-gold-andblack throng in the Smethwick End and channelled his inner Jurgen Klopp as, with clenched fist, he urged the hordes to drink in his obvious delight.
Triumphs in local dust-ups can make or break players and managers. Win and your reputation will be enhanced. Lose and it could be trashed.
The last Wolves manager to finish on the end of a derby drubbing was Mick Mccarthy. Within 24 hours, he was looking for another job.
O’neil went as strong as he possibly could and was rewarded as Pedro Neto and Matheus
Cunha conjured up two moments of Premier League quality to settle a tie that was every bit as fierce as predicted.
“It wasn’t vintage with the ball,” he said. “But, to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be.
“With the pitch, it being an FA Cup tie, a derby and the fact that West Brom are good at home, I just didn’t think it would be overly fluid.
“A lot of work went into that this week. If we’d lost here, there would have been a lot of noise about how we’d lost against a local rival.
“I thought the fans were excellent, the numbers they came in, the noise they made.
“It’s 28 years since we’ve managed to win here, so I hope they enjoyed it.”
It was a shame the off-field issues that followed Cunha’s clinching goal, 12 minutes from time, will overshadow a moment that will live long in the memory of those visiting fans.
It arrived eight minutes before the interval – an opening half that had seen West Brom launch
their limited resources at their higher-ranked hosts with all the gusto they could muster.
The Baggies were light in numbers, five on the treatment table, two ineligible and two away on AFCON duty.
But they traded blows and had shaded what few chances there were until they conceded – from their own corner.
Instead of lumping it into an area populated by a sea of six-foot somethings in navy blue and white, Alex Mowatt tried to find skipper Jed Wallace on the edge of the area.
Matt Doherty got there first. He nicked the ball away. Neto, who had been out by the corner flag, did what good strikers do and gambled. He was off.
His colleague found him with a pass down the right. The Portuguese travelled with the ball, cut inside Conor Townsend and John Swift, and fired inside goalkeeper Josh Griffiths’ left-hand post.
West Brom regrouped and tried to hit back.
Wallace nodded Swift’s centre across goal. Brandon Thomas-asante went to finish and his leg hit the back of Max Kilman’s, as he went to connect from six yards. It was adjudged to be no penalty.
Other half-chances were blasted over. Then, Kilman’s hopeful ball over the top caught out the home defence and Cunha shot through Griffiths’ legs, sparking all kinds of chaos in the stands.
West Brom manager Carlos Corberan said: “The game was very balanced. We did enough to win and they did enough to win.
“The difference was the team with greater impact and more accuracy in the boxes.
“They had three big chances and scored two. We had the opportunities but didn’t use them well.”
WBA (4-2-3-1): Griffiths 6, Furlong 6, Bartley 6 Booked, Kipre 6, Townsend 6, Yokuslu 6, Mowatt 6, Chalobah 4, Swift 6, Wallace 7 Booked, Thomas-asante 6 Subs: Taylor (Bartley 78), Pieters (Kipre 78), Pipa 78 (Townsend 78), Fellows (Chalobah 67) 6 WOLVES (5-3-2-1): Sa 6, Semedo 5, Kilman 7, Dawson 7, Toti 6, Doherty 6, Doyle 7, Lemina 7, Bellegard 6, Neto 8,
Cunha 7 Subs: Ait-nouri
(Bellegaerd 70) 5, Chirewa
(Neto 78)