Coasting Towards Top-Flight Survival
Peter Knowles….an early goal at The Dell could not prevent a defeat of epic proportions.
Three trips, seven points and some massive steps towards Premier League safety…..never have Wolves’ visits to some of England’s main holiday coastlines been so fruitful.
For decades, outings to such parts brought a lot of anguish. Think of the two relegation-clinching defeats at Brighton, the long wait of yesteryear for a win over those opponents and the record-breaking 9-3 defeat at Southampton in 1965 despite Peter Knowles’ first minute goal.
We could add that victories at Bournemouth have only started to come along in recent times, too, following some unhappy experiences there, albeit not necessarily all of Cunha-outburst proportions!
This season, therefore, has provided Wolves with a ‘Southern Tour’ like never before. In fact, they have not even been to that area of the country anything like as often as they have in 2024-25.
Yesterday’s winning excursion was the fifth time they had been to the south coast in six months – to Brighton in the Carabao Cup and League, to Bournemouth in the League and FA Cup and now to doomed Southampton.
We must also include the Devon venues in this observation and a look through the record books illustrates that Wolves have never travelled down to the bottom of the country so often.
It may seem surprising that they didn’t play Southampton in the League for the first time until 1922-23. But it’s less surprising when we recall that football’s roots are very much in the Midlands and up north; a point illustrated by the fact the club didn’t travel further south than Birmingham for a League game until Woolwich Arsenal arrived on the scene in 1904-05.
Wolves didn’t face Bournemouth with points at stake until the mid-1980s, although that was more because The Cherries were traditionally a lower-division club. When they did go head-to-head with them, they won only one of the first six League meetings and not until 2019 did they emerge with maximum points from what we now know as the Vitality Stadium.
John Ruddy.
That suffering was small beer compared with the barren times at the hands of Brighton, who may have lost at home to Wolves in both the League Cup and FA Cup but still managed to remain unbeaten against them in their first 13 League meetings from 1979 to 1991.
So the younger fans who have this season savoured the late rescue act at Brighton, the Strand-Larsen show at Southampton, the intoxicating part of the Cunha cocktail at Bournemouth and even the famous Tommy Doyle tackle at the Amex should be aware that it hasn’t always been like this.
*Newcastle’s Carabao Cup success over Liverpool today spelled disappointment for Diogo Jota but a reason to celebrate for John Ruddy, the long-time former Wolves keeper who moved to St James’ Park last summer and is still awaiting his first senior appearance for the Magpies.