Baggies inflict Molineux misery

West Brom demolished Wolves 5-1 in the Black Country derby to continue their excellent away form and increase the pressure on Mick McCarthy

Wolves suffer humiliating 5-1 home defeat in Black Country derby

West Brom demolished Wolves 5-1 in the Black Country derby to continue their excellent away form and increase the pressure on Mick McCarthy The Baggies dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead in the 34th minute when Peter Odemwingie's well-struck shot from outside the area was deflected past Wayne Hennessey. Steven Fletcher drew Wolves level on the stroke of half-time with a wonderful finish after a slick exchange of passes with Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. West Brom were not to be denied, though, and regained control of the contest in the 64th minute when Jonas Olsson's shot was fumbled into his own net by the previously impressive Hennessey. Wolves were then torn apart in the closing stages as Odemwingie's close-range finish to make it 3-1 was followed up by a deflected goal from debutant Keith Andrews. Odemwingie completed his hat-trick two minutes from time to lift West Brom eight points clear of the relegation zone and leave Wolves in the bottom three.

Bright start

Albion were the first to settle and Hennessey denied winger Jerome Thomas at point-blank range after Kevin Foley had been pulled out of position. The Wales No.1 dealt with an effort on goal from Baggies debutant Liam Ridgewell and then Thomas dragged a low shot wide. Paul Scharner just failed to make contact with a low ball across the Wolves box from Marc-Antoine Fortune. Wolves were being over-run in midfield and Odemwingie's fierce drive was beat out by Hennessey after Steven Reid supplied the telling pass. Hennessey produced his second top class save of the half to turn over a deflected drive from Scharner after a mistake by Sebastien Bassong. Albion were queueing up to have attempts on goal and a Ridgewell effort was blocked. It came as no surprise when Odemwingie broke the deadlock after 34 minutes. He was allowed to cut in from the right unopposed and his fierce shot took a deflection off Dave Edwards and deceived Hennessey for his sixth goal of the campaign. Wolves were at sixes and sevens and seemingly powerless to stop Albion's grip on the game. But in first-half injury-time Fletcher equalised with a typically opportunist finish. He combined with Ebanks-Blake before beating the dive of Ben Foster with his shot on the turn. Hodgson made a half-time switch with former Wolves midfielder Andrews replacing Scharner. Wolves began the second half on the offensive and Gareth McAuley did well to cut out a low Doyle centre with Fletcher waiting to pounce. The home side were playing at a higher tempo and Fletcher's 20-yard drive was deflected just wide with Foster scrambling across his line. Odemwingie teed up Thomas 15 yards out but Jamie O'Hara's challenge did enough to put him off and he shot high and wide. The Baggies still looked threatening and Hennessey turned aside a Fortune drive.

First to react

But from Morrison's corner, Albion regained the lead through Olsson via an error by Hennessey. McAuley's initial header clipped the outside of a post and then Roger Johnson hoisted his clearance high into the air inside the penalty box. Olsson was first to react to the loose ball but Hennessey should have held his shot which slipped from his grasp and over the line. Johnson came close to equalising when his header was cleared off the line by Youssouf Mulumbu via the underside of the bar. Odemwingie could have wrapped up the points when he broke into the West Brom box but his shot was cleared off the line by Foley. But he was not to be denied and after 77 minutes struck for the second time. Ridgewell turned a Morrison header back across the box, Olsson back heeled the ball goalwards and Odemwingie applied the vital touch. Andrews made it 4-1 with a deflected low drive after 85 minutes and Odemwingie completed his hat-trick from a Morrison cross three minutes later.

Wolverhampton Wanderers	Team Statistics	West Bromwich Albion
1	Goals	5
1	1st Half Goals	1
5	Shots on Target	14
2	Shots off Target	11
6	Blocked Shots	4
12	Corners	8
6	Fouls	12
4	Offsides	2
1	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
78.2	Passing Success	78.3
20	Tackles	10
70	Tackles Success	100
53.9	Possession	46.1
45.7	Territorial Advantage	54.3
412	Total Passes	360
32	Total Crosses	23
173	Lost Balls	154
51	Recoveries	50
47.9	1st Half Poss.	52.1
58.5	2nd Half Poss.	41.5