Wolves 2-3 West Brom: Premier League – live!

Those three massive points bring West Bromwich Albion back to life. They’re still second bottom of the Premier League, but they’ve got 11 points now, just one behind Fulham and three behind Brighton. Fulham have two matches in hand, but Brighton don’t. All of a sudden, the Baggies don’t look so much of a lost cause. Fireman Sam, at your service. Wolves on the other hand … well, they’ll not be panicking yet, but that’s now six defeats in their last nine. They’re comfortable enough at the minute in 14th spot, on 22 points, but can’t keep going on like this. A little bit of pressure building on Nuno. They’re really missing Raul Jimenez.

Sam Allardyce has his first win as West Brom manager! It’s well deserved after a fine battling display. His team – and they were a team today – cavort in joy. A massive smile plays across the big man’s face. A huge three points in the battle against relegation!

90 min +3: On the touchline, Big Sam masticates ferociously. Nuno by contrast looks extremely pensive.

90 min +2: Livermore is forced to knock a long speculative ball behind for a corner. The superb and ever-heroic Bartley clears. He’s been West Brom’s man of the match, surely, though Glenn Hoddle on BT Sport has given it to Pereira. A justifiable shout, to be fair.

90 min +1: The first of four added minutes goes by without incident.

90 min: Silva turns Ajayi in the box, some cute skill. He opts to go over a leg that’s withdrawn. No contact, and the referee has no option but to show a yellow.

89 min: Wolves are seeing plenty of the ball, but they’re doing very little with it. West Brom currently look as comfortable as a team can be in these circumstances.

87 min: Ait-Nouri cuts in from the left and sends a wild shot high into the stand. West Brom are keeping Wolves at arm’s length … just about.

86 min: Neto floats a free kick in from the left. Boly can’t get a header on target. The ball’s half cleared. Semedo races in and pearls a shot goalwards from the edge of the box. Bartley extends a leg to make a brave and quite brilliant block.

85 min: Neto has a bash from 30 yards. No need to get so desperate quite yet. It’s easily blocked and cleared.

83 min: West Brom send on Furlong for Pereira, clearly opting to batten down the hatches in the hope of seeing this one out.

82 min: A spinning ball drops to Cutrone, just inside the West Brom box. Cutrone shapes like Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final, but gets the contact all wrong, the ball belted into the turf and ballooning over the bar.

81 min: Wolves win their tenth corner of the match. West Brom haven’t had one. Button punches it clear.

80 min: Some scrappy nonsense as a few challenges fly in. There’s still time for this Black Country derby to get dark.

79 min: Cutrone comes on for Moutinho. “Big Sam for England!” cries Simon McMahon. “It’s coming home!”

77 min: Neto powers his way down the left and digs out a fine cross. Traore can’t get a header on target. Wolves are having some joy down the flanks, but nothing’s quite happening for them in the middle.

75 min: Quick quiz: did BT Sport’s Peter Walton agree with Michael Oliver’s refusal to show Dendoncker a red card, or not? No need to respond, I know you know the answer.

73 min: Dendoncker is booked for high-kicking Snodgrass on the noggin. You’ve seen reds flashed for that sort of thing, but the Wolves midfielder gets away with one.

72 min: Silva has another dig, this time from 25 yards out. He drags his shot wide left, harmlessly so. Full marks to the 18-year-old striker for keeping going.

71 min: The Traore jets are showcased yet again. A barnstorming run down the right. His cutback should be converted by Silva, but the young striker wafts at the ball, six yards out, and the visitors clear. Traore cocks his head back in disappointment. He could have done no more.

70 min: Grosicki, who has been very decent this afternoon on his first Premier League start of the season, makes way for Robson-Kanu.

69 min: Saiss wins a header from the second corner but it flies harmlessly wide right. Big Sam will be pleased with the way his defenders are battling this afternoon, and indeed the manner in which the whole team are fighting. It’s Anfield revisited, but with added attacking panache.

68 min: Gibbs-White’s first significant contribution is to skip down the left and earn a corner. Boly rises highest, yet again, and his header looks destined for the top left. But Bartley deflects out for another corner. What a block!

66 min: Wolves steady the ship a little with some calm possession in the middle of the park. One step at a time.

64 min: An eyebrow-raising sub for Wolves, as Ait-Nouri comes on for the captain Coady, who doesn’t appear to be carrying an injury. It’s the first time Coady has been hooked as a Wolves player.

63 min: Neto whips a stunning cross through the six-yard box from the left. Neither Silva nor Traore can latch onto it. Any touch and it would have been in. It’s heartbreaking that Molineux isn’t packed for this back-and-forth spectacular.

61 min: Wolves are all over the shop right now, stunned at recent developments. Pereira finds Robinson on the penalty spot with a floater from the left. Robinson gives Coady the slip and dribbles a shot across Rui Patricio and inches wide of the left-hand post. Not sure the keeper had that covered. Worrying times for Wolves.

59 min: Snodgrass pulls back from the right. Sawyers drags wide left. Nuno has seen enough, and withdraws Neves, sending on Gibbs-White in his place.

57 min: Coady is fuming. There wasn’t much in that challenge on Robinson, and he’s arguing the toss with the referee. A futile debate.

Pereira lashes his second spot kick of the afternoon into the right-hand side of the goal, sending Rui Patricio the wrong way again. What a turnaround!

55 min: This is given, though! Grosicki rolls a pass down the inside left. Robinson, his back to goal again, tries to spin Coady and goes over. It’s the slightest of touches, but he’s clipped him. Penalty!

54 min: Semedo waltzes down the inside-right channel, a glorious run that draws three defenders. He’s about to break into the box when Bartley steps across him. It should be a foul, but inexplicably it’s not given. The referee will have assumed he wasn’t going to reach the ball he’d just poked into space, I guess.

West Brom show for the first time in the second half, and how! Snodgrass works his way down the right and earns a throw. The ball’s flung into the mixer. Bartley wins the first header. Ajayi, the hero of Anfield, loops a second over Rui Patricio and into the top left!

51 min: The free kick’s fizzed in low by Neto. Silva traps and sets up Saiss, who shoots straight at Button. None of it matters, because the ball had hit Silva’s hand, and the whistle goes.

50 min: It’s all Wolves since the restart. Neto dribbles down the left and is dragged to the floor by O’Shea. A free kick, and a chance to load the box again.

48 min: Traore flicks on Moutinho’s corner. There’s a melee on the edge of the six-yard box. Dendoncker tees up Silva, whose sidefoot is deflected out for another corner, this time on the right. Boly, at the heart of everything this afternoon, meets the second corner, but his header is always sailing wide left. A highly decent start to the half by the hosts.

47 min: Silva makes like Traore, turning on the afterburners and zipping into the box down the left. For a second it looks as though he’s worked space to shoot, but has to settle for a corner.

Wolves get the second half underway. No half-time changes. On the touchline, Big Sam redefines morose. “Poor Sam,” writes Mary Waltz. “He resembles a cow chewing his cud who suddenly comes to the realization that yes, they do plan on cutting me up and cooking me to eat.”

Half-time entertainment. Other Premier League matches are available this weekend. Our panel of experts run the rule over them here!

That’s the end of a very eventful, highly entertaining first half. West Brom looked lively, and could have been two up before they were hit by a Wolves double whammy. Both teams have contributed to a fine 45 minutes of football. More please! The Black Country derby is back, after a nine-year hiatus, and not a moment too soon.

45 min +1: Snodgrass loops long from the right. Gibbs volleys from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. He pulls his effort across the face of goal and out for a goal kick.

45 min: Snodgrass makes his way past Saiss on the right, but can’t find anyone with his low cross. West Brom have played well, and will wonder how they’re losing.

Moutinho’s corner drops at the near post and instigates a quick game of pinball. The ball pings to Boly’s feet, six yards out. Boly opens his body and slams into the bottom left! Boly has given away a penalty, set one up with a backheel, and scored one himself. What a return to action for the Wolves defender!

42 min: Traore turns on the jets again, then takes it up a notch from there! It’s an unstoppable run. He reaches the byline but his cutback is blocked out for a corner. And from that …

40 min: That goal came slightly against the run of play, after a decent period for West Brom. The scoreline seems pretty much right over the piece, though.

This is a lovely goal! Neto’s free kick isn’t up to much, and half-cleared by West Brom. Saiss hoicks it back into the mixer from the right. The ball hits Silva on the shoulder and breaks to Boly, who backheels down the inside left, returning it to Silva. Silva opens his body and steers a delightful sidefoot across Button and into the bottom right. What a finish!

37 min: Snodgrass clips Neto down the left, and this is a free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the side of the West Brom area. Neto gets up and takes himself, and …

36 min: Ajayi is booked for a cynical tug on Dendoncker, who was threatening to launch a Wolves attack. One suspects Big Sam will be happy enough with that, too.