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11 hours ago
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Key events
Mowbray says “there are pictures that suggest to me it’s outside the box” re the penalty call. The Blackburn boss goes on to praise his team’s performance, but insists “we can get better” and become more of a goal threat.
He adds that the pundits and pre-season predictions can be a motivational tool for him and his players. Which is interesting.
Ryan Alebiosu, who is named Player of the Match, reacts to the result and that late penalty call that went against him:
“We’re frustrated, the boys have done everything to get the three points. The ball has been played and I thought I was outside the box… obviously the decision has gone against us.
“The boys dug deep and we thought we had it. Just the final details with the penalty is frustrating. If we play like that every week we’ll go far in the table.”
This is definitely an “… and breathe” situation. That was a really enjoyable game to watch and cover, let’s hope it sets the tone for the rest of the opening Championship weekend.
More reaction and the match report to come.
Jiménez is talking to Sky Sports now.
Initial reaction: “It’s amazing to be back. Not the result we were looking for, we need to learn from this, all the games will be difficult here. It’s just the start so we need to keep going.”
On buying scarves for all the fans inside the stadium: “It’s nice to give them back some love that they were showing me for the past eight years, even when I was not here at the club, on social media and every time I played against Wolves.”
On Blackburn: “We need to control the game better. They made it difficult.”
Before that spot-kick, Blackburn looked excellent value for the three points, producing a really solid defensive display at one of the trickier away grounds in the division, and going beyond that, venturing forward regularly and offering a not insignificant threat. Morishita, Alebiosu and McLoughlin were all standout performers for Tony Mowbray’s men tonight.
César Peixoto may have learned a few valuable lessons about the Championship this evening, mainly that there are absolutely no gimmes when it comes to opponents.
FT: Wolves 2-2 Blackburn
The final corner from Blackburn comes to nothing and there’s no time for any more drama, but what a game to open up the Championship season.
I think the away team can feel seriously aggrieved. That was a marginal call to award Wolves a late, late penalty, but Raul Jiménez slotted it away to make it honours even on the night. Welcome back, Championship football!
90mins +5: Jiménez’s name is echoing around the stands at Molineux but Blackburn get a quickfire chance to hit back with Garrett testing Bentley, who has to tip it around the post.
Drama at the end of the game here.
GOAL! Wolves 2-2 Blackburn (Jiménez, 90+3, pen)
Jiménez sends Toth the wrong way and has salvaged a point for Wolves, surely!
Alebiosu is the man penalised. It’s a handball without doubt but the Blackburn full-back looks to be slightly outside the box from where I’m sitting.
The referee Farai Hallam has made an enormous call.
PENALTY TO WOLVES! Handball given. Goodness me.
90 mins +2: Ohashi brings it away for the umpteenth time and Garrett collects and takes it into the corner, Blackburn chewing up precious seconds by keeping the ball in Wolves territory … but only for a short time. Wolves have it back now.
90 mins: What an incredible challenge by Blackburn’s Montgomery! He stretched and simply HAD to get the ball there, and did so just in the nick of time, taking it off the feet of a Wolves forward.
Four added minutes to come. Still time.
89 mins: No, he’s back on! Mosquera is doing all he can for his team despite plainly carrying an injury.
88 mins: I said this earlier in the evening… but this really wasn’t in the script for tonight. Wolves are everyone’s promotion favourites, Blackburn heavily tipped to struggle.
It seems like Mosquera has gone off to receive treatment, so the home team will finish this game shorthanded by the looks of it.
86 mins: Mosquera has taken a knock and is limping around the pitch, but Wolves have used all their substitutions so he may have to stay on.
A blocked Fevrier shot earns Blackburn a corner, which is applauded by the excitable away support. They sense their side can put the game to bed here.
84 mins: Wolves haven’t actually carved out any clearcut chances since Blackburn took the lead.
They’ve had plenty of the ball but they’ve been rather huffing and puffing, with the home supporters unhappy with what they view as a lack of urgency right now.
82 mins: Oooh, Armstrong thought he had a sniff there but the ball wouldn’t quite land for him and Pickering did enough to get in the way.
81 mins: As it stands, you’d describe this as the perfect away performance from Blackburn.
There’s still a long way to go, mind.
Chirewa and Lima are now on for Wolves. Jake Garrett replaces Gudjohnsen for Blackburn. On a hot and sticky night, there are a few tired, sweaty faces out there right now, as we approach the 80-minute mark.
78 mins: Blackburn now have Fevrier and Ohashi stationed in forward positions to try and stretch Wolves on those breaks. It’s smart management from Mowbray to introduce those two – you have to keep your opponents honest, pin them back at times (take note Thomas Tuchel).
76 mins: André is another Wolves player who’s had a pretty quiet evening by his standards, though he’s done well to marshal Ohashi and prevent the Blackburn substitute having a shot to cap another counter.
75 mins: Tchatchoua’s pace on the right wing should be an outlet for Wolves, but on this occasion he’s snuffed out by a fine McLoughlin block… it’s out for a corner but McLoughlin is there again to nod away.
74 mins: Mosquera chucks in a long throw but Atcheson gobbles it up and heads away. I think Wolves may have to be a bit cuter …
73 mins: Wolves’ play is becoming a little more urgent, clearly feeding off the nervousness of their supporters, knowing a defeat here would equate to a disastrous start to the season.
Lopez is looking the most likely of the home players, trying to take Blackburn on all by himself at times.
Jiménez hit it but the Blackburn wall did its job.
Doyle cannot control it as the ball is fizzed into his feet in the box, eventually ballooning it over the bar.
71 mins: Ohashi steams into Lopez with what the referee deems an overzealous challenge and this will be a free-kick for Wolves, around 20 yards from goal, pretty straight.
One man fancies this…
70 mins: It’s decently worked around by Wolves, with Doyle involved straight away, but Lopez skews his cross and the ball lands on the top of Toth’s net, harmlessly enough.
Tension is beginning to set in around the stands at Molineux. The home side have 20 minutes plus stoppage time to rectify this situation.
68 mins: Both teams make double substitutions.
Tommy Doyle and Jackson Tchatchoua are the latest duo to be thrown on by Peixoto – Rodrigo Gomes and Trippier are the men they replace.
Ohashi and Fevrier are on for Blackburn, replacing Afolayan and Cantwell.
67 mins: One of Trippier’s final acts before being substituted is to hook in a cross that Toti Gomes can only tamely head down at Toth, who gathers easily.
65 mins: Dapo Afolayan arrived at Blackburn from St Pauli in January and had a quiet spell for the club at the back end of last season. He’s enjoying a stellar evening so far here, though, switching flanks and making himself difficult for Wolves to pick up.
64 mins: Cantwell squanders a good chance to pop the ball into the path of Afolayan, who again had found space in the Wolves box. Blackburn are still generating chances and half-chances, which will delight their manager.
62 mins: No surprise that Blackburn are now content to sit in their shape, pressing less often, asking Wolves to come and break them down.
It seems like a long time for them to purely defend, so they’ll have to retain that bit of bite on the counterattack, as the referee waves away appeals for a penalty when Jiménez hits the deck.
60 mins: The Wolves fans are in fine voice once again, because Jiménez is being ushered on by his manager. It’s his first appearance for the club since 2023 when he left for Fulham. Tommy Doyle is also coming on for the home side, though not yet it seems.
Mané has been withdrawn by Peixoto.
57 mins: Munetsi has been sharp all evening and wins a corner when his shot is deflected. Can the hosts strike back?
Here comes Sam Morsy for his Blackburn debut, replacing Adam Forshaw. Morsy is from Wolverhampton and was released by them as a youngster, before going to to represent Middlesbrough, Ipswich and others.
55 mins: Ryan Alebiosu is wreaking yet more havoc from the right-back position for Blackburn. His overlapping runs and exchanges with Morishita have been dangerous, making it a tricky night for Wolves left-back Møller Wolfe.
53 mins: Mané dances past Montgomery and wants a free-kick on the edge of the box, but instead is shown a yellow card for diving – which he cannot believe.
It probably wasn’t a foul but that seems a tad harsh, it wasn’t a theatrical dive in the typical sense.
52 mins: This wasn’t in the script for the 30,000 or so Wolves fans packed into Molineux on opening night …
51 mins: Mowbray said before kick-off that he’d picked Gudjohnsen for his goalscoring instinct between the sticks, as someone he could rely on to net those poachers’ goals. He has just done exactly that and the Blackburn fans are singing his name.
GOAL! Wolves 1-2 Blackburn (Gudjohnsen, 48)
Expertly worked by the visitors and a pure No 9’s finish from the Icelandic international. Molineux is stunned.
Morishita played an intelligent reverse ball into Afolayan, who darted into the right-hand channel and picked out Gudjohnsen, who was not tracked well enough by the Wolves defenders. The son of Eidur strikes once again for Rovers!
48 mins: The pressing is still pretty high-intensity from Blackburn, though it’s not always brilliantly co-ordinated and there are a few gaps between the lines that Wolves should exploit.
Another good breakaway, however, brings a chance for Afolayan, whose powerful effort is tipped over the bar by Bentley. I think that needed saving, you know.
46 mins: No sign of Jiménez yet, by the way. To be fair, Wolves showed towards the end of that second half they don’t necessarily need him to score goals against this Blackburn team.
Back under way. Let’s do this second half thing.
How long does Peixoto wait before introducing Raúl Jiménez? Straight away for the second half? Surely no longer than an hour? We’ll wait and see. It’s guaranteed to get the crowd going when the Mexican does appear.
A penny for César Peixoto’s thoughts, then, after watching his team for the first time in the Championship. Whether it’s a far cry from managing Gil Vicente in Portugal only he can say, really, but I’m sure he was under no illusions about the size of his task in one of Europe’s most physical and competitive leagues.
He’ll be happy with how his team grew into that half after a slightly nervy start tonight. And boy does he have some talent at his disposal. Lopez and Munetsi have probably been the best two players on the pitch, linking up delightfully for the opening goal.
As for Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn, they were as committed and solid as you would expect from a Mowbray side, but also played some nice football at times. You would not say the current scoreline flatters them at all, though you wonder whether Wolves’ superior strength from the bench might take its toll in the second half.
HT: Wolves 1-1 Blackburn.
A very watchable half of football opens the EFL season at Molineux. Blackburn started brightly, Wolves took the lead, Blackburn hit back, then the home side dominated without breaking through … all of which leaves us level at the break. An intriguing second 45 minutes is to come, you suspect.
I’m going to grab a quick drink.
We’ll have just the one minute of stoppage time.
45 mins: Blackburn are doing exactly what they need to do, just quietening the crowd down with another spell on the ball, slowing the tempo.
Alebiosu does get a cross in but Morishita’s foul stops the momentum. By the way, Forshaw and Cantwell have been booked for Blackburn, so that’s three visiting players in the referee’s notebook already.
42 mins: Nope! Wolves win it back and they’re unlucky not to get a big chance to score. Munetsi wasn’t quite in the right place after a good run from Armstrong, with Blackburn wobbling a touch.
41 mins: There are some ironic cheers from the Blackburn fans as their side finally win a free-kick thanks to more good play from Morishita. A quieter, and welcome, period of posssession follows for the visitors – who may sense a chance to fashion something before the break …
It’s Wolves who are now in charge as we get closer to half-time. Blackburn would bite your hand off to go in level at 1-1. The home crowd sense a chance to snatch the lead back, though.
Mané curls an excellent effort over from outside the box.
Five minutes or so, plus stoppage time, left in the first half.
38 mins: I’ll admit to not being too familiar with the work of Fer López before tonight. He spent the second half of last season on loan at Celta Vigo, having been signed from Celta in 2025.
The Spanish playmaker has been excellent so far, and he goes close with a potshot from 25 yards or so, just off target.
35 mins: Pickering has picked up the game’s first booking, trying to stay in touch with Rodrigo Gomes he was spotted tugging back the winger’s old gold shirt.
Trippier’s free-kick from deep on the right flank isn’t cleared at the first opportunity but Mané – who has been oddly quiet – puts in a poor cross from the other side.
33 mins: Lopez is starting the run the game from his No 10 position now, drifting into channels and linking the play. Alebiosu takes no chances, poking a dangerous cross away for a corner.
Toth (just about) collects the resulting corner from Trippier and Blackburn can breathe again.
32 mins: A smart turn from Munetsi, bringing the ball down, allows it to run into the path of Fer Lopez, whose shot is dragged wide of Toth’s goal.
