Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Date:	Sunday 20th September 2026
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Wolves: 6.4	(4-2-3-1) Sá, Trippier, Djiga, Toti Gomes, Hugo Bueno, Andre, Munetsi (James, 78), Rodrigo Gomes (Neave, 88), Fer Lopez (Doyle, 73), Mateus Mane (Bellegarde, 73), Armstrong Unused subs: João Virgínia, Traore, Traore, Konan, Tchatchoua
WBA: 4.7	(4-4-2) O'Leary 8.9, Styles 6.2, Phillips 4.8, Campbell 5.5, Townsend 5.6, Whitwell 4.5 (Nzingoula, 61 5.1), Molumby 5.6 (Collyer, 84 5.0), Diakité 6.4, Price 4.9 (Tunde, 84 3.8), Heggebø 3.8 (Stewart, 61 4.7), Morgan 4.8 Unused subs: Ingram, Mepham, Horn Myhre, Pereira, Bany Manager: James Morrison 4.8
Scorers:	Fer Lopez (50)
Referee:	Josh Smith 5.1
Attendance:	30,892 Home Fans 4.8 Away Fans 7.2

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Ratings submitted so far: 18

oshawabaggie:

Let's face it, but for some O'Leary brilliance we could have been three down at half time. It was ironic, then, that their goal was a gift, resulting from sloppy play around our box and ending in a horrendous Phillips backpass. We weren't really in it until the last 15 minutes when we manufactured a few half-chances from poorly taken free kicks and corners.

Wolves' superiority could probably be put down to the level of players they can afford with parachute payments. This was a reality check for Mozza, but it's not the end of the World.

Ancient Baggie:

The result was about what I was expecting and given where both clubs are at the moment it wasn't the worst outcome. However the level of performance was really disappointing. Too many players just didn't turn up and we seemed scared to take the risk of passing the ball forward. Heggebo and Morgan were completely anonymous and the midfield created nothing.

O'Leary was fantastic and was only beaten when we gifted them the chance for the winning goal. I constantly question the merits of players playing out of their own box when under pressure (it must cost three or four goals in a season) but it appears to be the way nowadays. For what it's worth I thought Diakite was impressive again and Collyer was an improvement on Molumby when he came on but that could have been due to Wolves sitting deeper trying to see the game out.

We go into a good break now and we're only 3 points off top spot having played both Boro and Wolves away so still in decent shape. Hopefully we can reset and go again. COYB

Brendan Clegg:

A really disappointing day where we got a lot wrong but, perspective needed, this was always David versus Goliath on wages alone and demonstrated the gulf between the two leagues.

To get anything we needed to be at our best and, for a variety of reasons we weren't. 1-0 was lucky and, but for O'Leary, it could've been a lot worse.

The starting 11 looked experienced enough. Personally I'd have found an alternative solution at right back to putting Styles there... it just means we are weaker in 2 positions, not 1. That's not a slight on him or Townsend, but it meant our right side out ball always needed 2 touches and to come inside and I think Whitwell suffered as much as Styles. It's quite a game to throw Pereira back in but Rabi could have done a job there with a full week in training.

That said - let's get some proportion. It wasn't a terrible decision - you could understand wanting an experienced back four.

The midfield choices also made sense... I'd have gone with Rabby but Whitwell usually looks after the ball really well and Diakite and Molumby is a sensible away game pairing.

Up front it was bold going with Morgan and Heggebø rather than an extra midfielder. Again you could understand why with the way Wolves press aggressively that we'd need to be able to clip it over them.

Our biggest issue was too many of them didn't perform and the harsh reality is that, for some of them, Wolves' fitness, aggression, pace and athleticism was either too good for them or too steep a learning curve. Yes we didn't perform but Wolves also made a performance difficult.

There is not much to say about the first half other than it is a miracle we went in level. They had 3 or 4 big chances and O'Leary made some brilliant saves. There were times where we passed it okay and took the sting out of it, but we offered little going the other way and when we did win free kicks or set pieces we were really poor.

In the stand, my first ever visit to the Custard Bowl without my Dad so a little emotional for me, we seemed as shell-shocked as the players. The wide lower tier makes it really hard to get anything going but we were quiet - the players giving us nothing really to get behind.

I honestly expected changes and a reaction after the break. The right back situation wasn't working, Heggebø had been really poor, Molumby had battled away but was on a booking and Whitwell had not looked after the ball well enough.

But no changes... and we were down before we knew it, a horrible error from Phillips who was played a pass under pressure from Molumby but who should have dealt with it. I do think a natural right back would have read that and given him an easy ball right.

We introduced Rabby and Stewart for Whitwell and Heggebø almost immediately but it didn't have any great impact straight away. Stewart put himself about more and we began picking up a few bits and pieces but Rabby didn't have a touch for about 10 minutes.

Whilst it would be a stretch to say we grew into it, we did at least start getting on the ball a bit more and again despite winning some set plays in dangerous areas the quality just wasn't there for us - the Molumby air shot when in a great position summed us up. He has got to do better there but also, why is he the one we are playing it to there? 99 times out of 100 the outcome wouldn't be a goal.

Collyer and Tunde came on as the last rolls of the dice but it was difficult for them. Tunde looks like a lot of development is required and you absolutely cant play him at the same time as a left footed right back. Collyer did show neat touches to move it quickly a few times. We needed an MJ type but that option just wasn't available.

There was a bit of pressure we were able to apply but nobody really had the bravery or quality to go at them 1v1 to open them up and our crosses were slow, delayed and poor.

O'Leary came up at the end and Diakite had a last minute header but we didn't work the keeper and that was it. We had a lot of time to stand and think about it as we were made to wait for about an hour to get out beyond the station and all the way around the ring road under escort. Fun it was not.

I don't think we need be too down about it - a harsh lesson for some of our younger players on the levels they need to get to, a reality check on the ceiling of a few others and dare I say probably a couple of lessons for Mozza too. It's still been a good start with some really tricky games. We are a work in progress but going in the right direction in a transition season. It's also a really tough and even league... Blues and Wrexham being our next two games after the break, both will take us playing really well to get anything out of.

O'Leary - 9 Just brilliant, 4 really outstanding saves.
Styles - 6 Out of position, really tough afternoon, never gave up.
Phillips - 6 A bad mistake for sure but our defence had a lot to deal with today and, in the main, he defended well and won loads in the air. I'd still have him in the team.
Campbell - 6 Have seen a few pelters... yes a few dodgy moments on the ball but his pace did a lot of covering today and we'd have been in big trouble without it.
Townsend - 6 Had a really tough opening but I felt he recovered well and put in a solid display in a really tough game where he didn't hide. As a backup left back he's a major upgrade on Taylor... heard quite a few people giving him grief and I don't get it.
Whitwell - 4 Sadly he was really off it and offered little.
Diakite - 7 I thought he was pretty good. Physically but also on the ball. Was our only outfield player who coped with them.
Molumby - 6 Gave his all and taking the yellow was the right thing. I think we needed another body in there to match them up. Will have nightmares about the air shot. I think we just saw where his limit is.
Price - 5 Lots of energy and normally he runs his opponent to death. I thought Trippier's game-reading, touch, decision making and ability taught him a lesson (and his set pieces were excellent). Hopefully he learns a lot from it.
Heggebø - 3 I'm afraid he looked hopelessly out of his depth. It's not personal, but not quick enough and did not get hold of the ball at all.
Morgan - 4 A few flashes and you have to have him on the pitch but he got schooled and went into a bit of a petty sulk mode. First half we really needed him to hold the ball and keep it simple and he didn't.

Stewart - 6 Encouraging... put himself about, showed decent touches and looked fitter. Still raw but might be worth investing the time in until January
Rabby - 5 Didn't really get into it, moved about a lot, couldn't get on the ball.
Collyer - 6 neat cameo
Tunde - 4 Struggled to impact it

Kev Buckley:

Deserved to lose it: but not like that.

Despite the four changes, Albion were still forced to line up with two left backs: Styles continuing to "fill a hole", at right-back.

Pretty scrappy start to the game, but then derbies usually are, although it wasn't too long before the inability of some of our players to get up to speed, against a relegated squad that looked a division higher (which of course, they were) saw an all-at-sea Campbell cough up a poor pass that was, perhaps. an omen of things to come.

Some really slick passing, as ten minutes passed, saw Armstrong's attempt blocked by Phillips for a corner, leading to a massive scramble that required O'Leary to first pull off a point-blank tip onto the woodwork, before reacting quickly enough to get his foot up and into the way of the follow-up attempt.

Wolves were having much the better of things before we finally got a free-kick from which Price presented the keeper with the sort of easy save that O'Leary must have been dreaming of falling onto.

It all seemed to be a bit too much for the Albion, with Molumby getting booked on 24 mins, just ahead of Morgan showing way too much of it to the covering defenders, but at least he got the ball into the box.

Two Wolves players then got in their own way when trying to make something of a good chance, only for two Albion players to almost entangle and present them with another chance, before O'Leary saved us again with a point-blank stop to a free header from inside our 6-yrd-box, after which it all calmed down a little, on thirty, as Diakite fell to the floor and required some five minutes of treatment, before returning.

Phillips got booked for a high feet challenge just before stoppage time started, and although we made it to half-time with the score level, the stats were well against us.

Five minutes into the second half though, and with Albion passing it backwards and sideways, Phillips, now inside his own box, and with three attackers close by, still decided that a pass even further back to O'Leary was the right choice, and maybe, had he passed it to O'Leary, it would have been, however he could only pass to one of the two Wolves players he had as "options", and that player needed no second invitation to put it into the net.

Albion's support staff were doing their best to take the sting out of the game, when coming onto the pitch again, so as to tend to Heggebø after he sustained a cut to the back of his head.

Once they had taken their time to bandage him up though, he promptly left the field, to be replaced by Stewart, though for some reason, Whitwell, who, for me, had easily looked the best of the four midfield players in the hour of play up to that point, also came off in a like-for-like swap with Nzingoula. Personally, I'd have kept Whitwell on and put "The Zing" into centre-mid, for one of Molumby or Diakite.

Those two like-for-like swaps changed nothing and within five minutes the Wolves had the same kind of break, beyond our defensive line, that had seen Styles score an spectacular own-goal, when attempting to clear, against Burnley, although on this occasion, he effected his clearance wide of the goal and not into it.

With five or so to go, Morrison brought on Collyer for Molumby, and Tunde for Price, but it didn't really feel like it was going to alter things all that much, and so it proved.

Sad as it is to acknowledge, the Wolves were better in every department, and position, other than the keeper: although who knows if theirs might also have been as good as, or better than, ours, as we never got see what theirs was like, which makes the calamity of the goal we gave them, which left O'Leary with no chance whatsoever, even harder to swallow.