Sunday, February 20, 2011

Smoke bomb thrown by Wolves fan after late West Brom equaliser

? No serious injuries; FA awaits report from on-spot official
? Roy Hodgson delighted by West Brom's fighting spirit

Ugly scenes at the final whistle marred the joyous celebrations among West Brom fans at the home side's 92nd-minute equaliser. A smoke bomb, which was smuggled into the ground inside a cuddly toy, was thrown by a Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter in the Smethwick End towards the Albion fans in the adjacent East Stand and seats were ripped out and used as missiles.

It is understood nobody was seriously injured but the Football Association is waiting for the report from its crowd control adviser before deciding what action to take. Wolves are working with police to try to identify the culprit.

The incident detracted from Roy Hodgson's delight after Carlos Vela's goal ensured he avoided defeat on his return to management. Hodgson felt Albion deserved at least a point after having the better of the second half and hailed his team's "fighting spirit". Vela's goal means that Albion, who came into this Black Country derby on a run of 13 defeats from 19 matches, are one point above the relegation zone while Wolves remain at the bottom.

"I'm hoping that the confidence will have improved somewhat because we were playing against a difficult team," said Hodgson. "It is a derby game and we've had to do it from 1-0 down for 55 minutes and that's not easy either.

"It told me that there is fighting spirit among them and that there is a lot of determination and character. You need that when you play against teams like Wolves. They scored a great goal and had a great chance from a misplaced backpass but apart from that [Boaz] Myhill had a very quiet afternoon and I don't think we can say the same for [Wayne] Hennessey."

That squandered opportunity fell to Matt Jarvis, who dragged his shot wide early in the second half with only Myhill to beat. Jamie O'Hara had earlier scored his first goal for Wolves since joining on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.

"I'm having to learn very quickly and I'm hoping desperately that the players will learn very quickly because we don't have the time," Hodgson said. "I've said to them that it's no good us playing good football and looking like a good team in the middle of April because that might be too late. We've got to do it straight away and I thought today there were a lot of encouraging signs."

Mick McCarthy refused to blame Hennessey, who failed to gather James Morrison's shot cleanly before Vela turned the loose ball home. "Of course it's a disappointing end but the performance was very good," the Wolves manager said. "I haven't seen the goal yet but it's a bobbly old pitch. I don't know if he should have got it but, even if that was the case, he's been fabulous."


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/20/crowd-violence-wolverhampton-wanderers-west-bromwich

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