Resident away dayer Stu Hall gives us his thoughts on the win against Rotherham
On current form this game could quite easily have been dubbed as a relegation 6 pointer, however ridiculous that sounds at the start of December.
Whilst being solid at the back, mainly thanks to the now departed Williamson, goals at the other end have not flowed like they should have done.
The shut out against MK Dons summed this up last week when the near total dominance should have resulted in 3 or 4 goals at least.
Kind of ironic then that it took just 5 minutes at the New York stadium to get on the score sheet.
With Afobe dropped to the bench and Le Fondre as a lone front man, it came from the unlikely source of a James Henry header from a brilliant cross from his fellow wide man and my man of the match, Jordan Graham.
We haven’t had true wing play all season long, and it does beg the question as to why Ojo and even Edwards have played on the left wing when this guy has been here all along.
Henry himself had a very good game on the right, running at the fullback and chasing lost causes that he didn’t really have to on more than one occasion.
With Williamson now back at Newcastle, the defensive frailties were expected by most.
Yet they didn’t surface once. Ebanks-Landell had a great game considering the time he has been out of the side and even Batth played well and deserved his goal when it came just before the break.
Again the architect was Graham who swept in a brilliant corner for Batth to power in with his head.
Between there Wolves goals, Rotherham had nicked one themselves.
When a shot from Clarke-Harris was well blocked by Ebanks-Landell it rebounded to the one time England prospect Matt Derbyshire who himself pulled his shot for Newell to then poke in via the post.
It was scruffy and slightly undeserved as Rotherham hadn’t really posed much of a threat.
The second half was much of a muchness with only really Le Fondre having a chance from a header which he nodded narrowly wide.
It has to be said, the conditions probably played a factor as the swirling wind couldn’t have helped proceedings much but this was a game that lacked real quality throughout.
The only real downside to the afternoon was the performance of Dave Edwards who, having had a purple patch of form and goals earlier in the season now looks totally inadequate and doesn’t contribute anything.
With the midfield partnership of McDonald and Price back together and functioning well, and the superb wing play of Graham and Henry keeping Byrne from getting a run out surely now is the time to try Wallace in the number 10 role.
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