Rutashubanyuma
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- Sep 24, 2010
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Steven Fletcher grabs deserved point for Wolves against Tottenham
Premier League
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3
Premier League
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3
- Doyle 20,
- Doyle (pen) 40,
- Fletcher 87
- Defoe 30,
- Defoe 35,
- Pavlyuchenko 48
- Stuart James at Molineux
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 March 2011 18.15 GMT <li class="history">Article history
Steven Fletcher scores Wolves' third goal and his seventh of the season. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images A raging sense of injustice reverberated around Molineux as Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters vented their anger at the referee, Mark Halsey, at the end of a thrilling game that saw the home team secure a deserved point when Steven Fletcher headed home three minutes from time.
Jermain Defoe had earlier marked his 300th Premier League appearance with two wonderful individual goals remarkably his first of the season in the top flight and was close to grabbing his hat-trick and putting the game beyond Wolves when he struck the post in the 84th minute.
Defeat, however, would have been harsh on a Wolves side who were entitled to believe they should have been playing against 10 men for 50 minutes. Only Halsey knows why he failed to send off Alan Hutton for a professional foul on Nenad Milijas in the first half.
It was a remarkable game, although the abiding image was the emotive sight of Dean Richards's widow, Samantha, walking on to the pitch beforehand alongside their two sons, Rio and Jaden. Richards, who played for Wolves and Spurs, died last weekend, at the age of 36, after a lengthy illness, and it was impossible not to be moved by his family's presence, in particular during the minute's applause, when they stood on the edge of the centre circle.
When the match got underway, Wolves made much the better start and it was no surprise when Kevin Doyle, taking advantage of poor marking in the Spurs penalty area, put the home team in front. Tottenham failed to clear Milijas's corner and when Karl Henry returned the ball to same player wide on the right flank, the Serb delivered a vicious inswinging centre that Doyle, with yards of space around him, glanced over the head of Heurelho Gomes.
In the space of five minutes, however, Defoe turned the game on its head with two moments of brilliance. The first bolt from the blue came when the forward shifted the ball out of his feet 25 yards from goal and bent a powerful shot inside Wayne Hennessey's left upright. Defoe's second goal was every bit as impressive, as he curled a first-time effort into the top corner after Stephen Ward nicked the ball off Luka Modric but inadvertently played it into his path.
Within six minutes, Wolves were back on level terms. Doyle's drive deflected off Benoît Assou-Ekotto, and as Milijas raced on to the loose ball and bore down on the Spurs goal, Hutton clearly tugged him back. Halsey pointed to the spot and Doyle duly converted but there was a lingering sense of injustice among the Wolves supporters that Hutton had been allowed to remain on the pitch.
Four goals in 20 minutes became five in 23 when Roman Pavlyuchenko, set up by Jermaine Jenas, smashed a left-footed drive that seemed to go through Hennessey's fingertips before finding the roof of the net.
Wolves could not have done more in their pursuit of a second equaliser. Gomes pushed Milijas's raking drive on to the post, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake profligately swept wide and Wolves had a goal disallowed in the 80th minute when Richard Stearman was adjudged to have fouled Gomes before Steven Fletcher's late header.