CATCH US IF YOU CAN!
Wolves surge ten points clear
UNSTOPPABLE Wolves moved TEN points clear at the top of the Championship with a dramatic 2-1 win at Bristol City in their top-of-thetable showdown. “It was the performance of a team who are growing with every game. I am very proud of the players, but I am already thinking of our next game against Brentford.”
Lee Johnson’s Robins slipped back a place to third after Derby won 2-1 at Ipswich to go above them.
Tony Pulis’ first game in charge of Middlesbrough ended in disappointment as they went down 1-0 at home against Aston Villa.
In a match that saw both teams have a man sent off, it looked as through the spoils would be shared. Bobby Reid gave the Robins the lead, but Wolves levelled with a Barry Douglas free-kick.
Deep in stoppage time, centre-back Ryan Bennett headed home to give the visitors all three points – and extend their lead at the top.
Delighted Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said:
DERBY County manager Gary Rowett heaped praise on striker Sam Winnall after his double maintained the Rams’ automatic promotion push.
Winnall’s goals either side of halftime gave the Rams a comfortable lead, but they were made to work for their victory after Joe Garner pulled one back with his head with 24 minutes remaining.
Rowett reckons coming away from Portman Road with three points is a big victory as they fight for automatic promotion, and he gave the majority of the credit to his centre-forward.
“What he (Winnall) did today, he’s held the ball up really well, he’s worked incredibly hard for the team, his link-up play was good, he was brilliant in the air, he gets up fantastically well,” said Rowett. “And it wasn’t just the goals today – they were terrific, but it was his all-round game that was really impressive.
“In the first half we blew them away. Really good attacking play up front, and we were unplayable at times and really should have been out of sight; three or four goals ahead at least.”
A slow start to the game was ended when Tom Lawrence’s corner found the head of Winnall with the striker heading it down into the turf towards the left corner past an uncharacteristically slow Bartosz Bialkowski.
A defensive mix-up almost cost Ipswich a minute later as Matej Vydra was allowed to run unchallenged towards goal, with only his lack of composure to blame as he struck firmly over the bar.
Former Ipswich loan player Lawrence was then at the heart of the action, firstly having a goalbound shot blocked by a sliding Luke Chambers in the 28th minute, before clearing Callum Connolly’s headed effort from a corner off the goal-line two minutes later.
The second half got underway as the first had ended. Winnall collected a familiar loose Ipswich pass before turning towards the left corner of the box and striking a flying rightfooted shot from 25 yards past a standing Bialkowski into the top right corner.
Winnall and Vydra came close to ending the contest for the Rams but both hit over the bar, and Kevin Bru headed wide for Ipswich across a frantic three minutes from the hour mark.
Ipswich had been growing into the game and managed to pull one back with Garner manoeuvring through a crowded box to head in Martyn Waghorn’s corner and bring the hosts to life.
It was the first time County had conceded in five games – Ipswich’s 1-0 win at Pride Park on November 28 the last time Derby’s goal was breached.
David McGoldrick headed wide and Jonas Knudsen into the sidenetting as the Blues failed to make their pressure pay, but Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy was pleased with his team’s efforts despite knowing they were beaten by the better side.
“My verdict is that we were beaten by a better team, a considerably better team on the day,” he said.
“They’re a good side and have been very expensively assembled prior to Gary getting there, but he’s now getting the best out of them.
“They could have been out of sight to be honest with you. But to my team’s eternal credit they fought back as they do and they had them on the back foot. I know they’ve had other chances but it made it at least exciting and made it look like we’d had a go, which we had.”