Club News

BACK OF THE NET! 4 – Peter Odemwingie v Wolves, 2012

Olsson moves like Messi

To fill the days until football returns from the international break, Albion News editor Dave Bowler has been charged with selecting a top ten of Albion goals.

“Picking a top ten of Albion goals over a lifetime of watching isn’t easy. For starters, at this advanced age, I’ve forgotten most of them. And do you pick great goals, funny goals, important goals? It’s a good question and I’ll only know the answer by next week when I’ve finished with it, but all I can say is it’s going to be a very personal collection and you’ll almost certainly disagree with it. Argue away…”

You'll remember the day I'm sure, February 2012, Molineux, the day that set us off towards becoming an established Premier League team and Roy Hodgson off on the road to being England boss? How could we have a top ten of goals without choosing one of those five from that most blessed of days?


Those of you who are regular readers of Albion News or listeners to Albion Radio will know what professionalism is our watchword. And when I say watchword, I mean that it accidentally happens on occasion.

I was going to choose Keith Andrews’ goal, for let us not pretend that professionalism troubled us when this particular goal went in, for the reaction bordered on the babbling hysterical. I couldn’t speak for laughing, not that this was an issue given that commentator Chris Hall never shut up. But much as I love that goal, given the events of the last week, I’ve had to select a different one.

Again, the obvious one would have been Jonas Olsson’s goal, struck from just inside the box, but there was one that was better, but which still involved the mighty Swede. 

It was goal number three, the clincher on an afternoon when we simply crushed our opponents. James Morrison’s corner from the right soared deep into the Wolves area, towards the edge of the box. A flick of the Liam Ridgewell quiff and the ball was propelled back towards the six-yard box where the magic happened.

Olsson, back to goal, running away from it, took one touch to cushion the ball under control and then back heeled – yes, back heeled it - it straight into the path of Odemwingie who tucked the ball away to make it 3-1.

When your centre-half is playing like Messi in the opposition penalty area, you know it’s a very special day in the making…


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