Wolves got their revenge for us dumping them out of last year's play-
offs by taking all three points with a 3-0 victory. The scoreline
flattered them, though I doubt many could deny they deserved the win.
While both teams mainly cancelled each other out in the first half,
Wolves took their chances much better than we did in the second.

Ryan Jarvis was handed a surprise starting place, alongside Iwan,
with Healy and Abbey dropping to the bench. The combination of youth
and experience almost paid dividends when Jarvis threaded a superb
ball through the Wolves defence to give Iwan an early sight of goal.
Unfortunately Iwan's legs weren't quite quick enough and the keeper
was able to smother the chance. If only the pass had been the other
way round!

City almsot took the lead just before half time, when Mulryne and
Kenton both had efforts spectacularly cleared off the line, but the
teams went in all square. After the break, a City attack was clumsily
brought to a halt, but allowed to go unpunished, and Wolves took full
advantage by putting Ndah clear of Malky to open the scoring with a
fine shot from the edge of the box. City could, and should, have
equalised soon after when Kenton had a clear sight of goal during a
scramble in the Wolves box, but his drive from 15 yards was dragged
wide of the upright.

City fell further behind when Kennedy was given too much time and his
cross was met with power by Sturridge. I think we all knew then that
the play-offs were a lost cause, but we plugged away and tried to get
back into the match. Unfortunately, deep into injury time, City had
another defensive lapse, allowing Kennedy to tee up Miller to score a
third with the last meaningful kick of the game. City had time only
to kick off, when the ref blew for full time - would it be unfair of
me to suggest the ref should have blown BEFORE they scored, but
hadn't checked his watch in time?

So, the adventure ends without another trip to Cardiff... and Amanda
and I will be jetting off to the sun for the Bank Holiday week now...
if we can still book a bargain at this late stage! In the meantime,
we have a trip to Leicester to look forward to, and the visit of
Preston, so we can hand back Healy! With Jarvis and Henderson in the
squad now, I wonder if we'll pursue Healy. Add to that Notman's
return from injury and Abbey, Nielsen and Roberts, as well as top
scorer McVeigh, then we already have a lot of strikers - a clear out
seems inevitable.

Team P W D L F A Pts GD
Portsmouth 44 27 11 6 88 43 92 45
Leicester 44 26 12 6 71 38 90 33
====================================
Sheff Utd 43 22 10 11 66 47 76 19
Wolves 44 20 14 10 77 40 74 37
Reading 43 23 4 16 56 44 73 12
Forest 44 20 12 12 77 45 72 32
------------------------------------
Ipswich 44 18 13 13 75 58 67 17
Norwich 44 18 11 15 57 48 65 9
Wimbledon 44 16 11 17 69 71 59 -2
Millwall 43 17 8 18 52 65 59 -13

Ipswich can catch Forest on points and Reading on goal difference,
but basically both Reading and Forest need a single point from their
remaining games to ensure Ipswich do not sneak in to the play-offs on
the last day. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to lift ourselves above
Ipswich now, although eighth place should be as low as we finish -
which still isn't bad for a side with our resources. MLS

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