Brace bags bragging rights

Goals from Chris Brunt and Peter Odemwingie in either half saw West Brom beat Wolves 2-0 in their derby clash.

Brunt and Odemwingie goals see Baggies win derby

Goals from Chris Brunt and Peter Odemwingie saw West Brom beat Wolves 2-0 to climb out of the Premier League relegation drop zone. Brunt put the Baggies ahead in the Black Country derby when slotting home a cross from Billy Jones, who was making his first league start, in the eighth minute. Substitute Odemwingie then got the crucial second with 15 minutes remaining when scoring after a fine Paul Scharner run and back-heel. The result saw the Baggies leapfrog Wolves in the table, with Mick McCarthy's side now having worryingly lost their last five league games - the club's worst sequence at the top level since 1984. The victory gave West Brom their first top-flight win over Wolves for 29 years and Baggies head coach Roy Hodgson also celebrated his first managerial win over his Wolves counterpart McCarthy at the sixth attempt. Wolves had more of the play during the opening 45 minutes but the home side looked dangerous on the counter-attack. Shane Long was a constant threat and caused plenty of problems for Wolves skipper Roger Johnson and his fellow defenders. After the break Albion took command with Scharner excelling in midfield and Jerome Thomas impressing on the flank.

Threaten

Wolves were the first to threaten and a cross from Stephen Ward found its way to Jamie O'Hara on the far side of the Albion box but his left-footed shot was blocked by debutant Jones. Baggies keeper Ben Foster then turned aside a shot from Adam Hammill after he had skipped past the challenge of Jones. But Albion went ahead through their first meaningful attack via Brunt after eight minutes. Youssouf Mulumbu picked out the run of the over-lapping Jones and he cut the ball back across the area to Brunt who hammered a rising shot past Wayne Hennessey from 12 yards out. Wolves retaliated and came close to equalising five minutes later. Foster blocked Nenad Milijas' low drive but the rebound fell to Doyle inside the six-yard box only for Albion defender Jonas Olsson to make a superb block tackle. Wolves defender Christophe Berra became the first - and only - player to be booked after 25 minutes after a mis-timed challenge on Long. Albion were now looking more menacing on the counter-attack and it needed a fine tackle from Ward to prevent Long doubling their lead after Thomas had sent the ball into the danger area. Long then burst clear down the left flank before squaring the ball for the recalled Scharner but he needed a second touch and curled his shot past the far post. At the other end, Foster was forced to finger-tip a deflected drive from Berra over the bar.

Second half

After the restart, Albion were incensed when Johnson appeared to bring down Long only for referee Chris Foy to wave play on, although replays indicated the Wolves defender had made no contact with the ball. McCarthy brought on Sylvan Ebanks-Blake for Milijas after 55 minutes and he almost made an immediate impact. The striker teed up Hammill whose low drive was finger-tipped by Foster around the far post. Johnson should have equalised after 67 minutes when he outjumped Jones to get on the end of a Doyle centre but he headed wide from close range. Odemwingie entered the action with 18 minutes remaining at the expense of Tchoyi. The Nigeria international quickly made an impact in teeing up Thomas whose low shot was blocked by the feet of Hennessey. Then after 75 minutes, Odemwingie doubled Albion's lead with his second goal of the campaign. Mulumbu made a probing run before finding Scharner who back-heeled into the path of Odemwingie who took one touch before drilling a low shot past Hennessey into the corner of the net. Odemwingie could have made it 3-0 but shot over with only Hennessey to beat and the Baggies held onto their lead to earn an important victory.

West Bromwich Albion	Team Statistics	Wolverhampton Wanderers
2	Goals	0
1	1st Half Goals	0
7	Shots on Target	8
6	Shots off Target	5
5	Blocked Shots	6
3	Corners	11
14	Fouls	13
9	Offsides	0
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
71.8	Passing Success	80.4
11	Tackles	14
72.7	Tackles Success	78.6
41.8	Possession	58.2
43.3	Territorial Advantage	56.7
309	Total Passes	403
5	Total Crosses	43
154	Lost Balls	155
59	Recoveries	44