Another Welcome Move On The Chart

Matt Doherty is heading towards another milestone by closing in on his latest significant climb up Wolves’ all-time record appearance-makers’ list.

The phenomenal Irishman, already one of the freer-scoring wing-backs or full-backs in the club’s history – other than penalty-takers – is two games short of reaching the 250 mark for Wolves in League football alone.

And, as long as he features in the fixture at Tottenham next weekend, his landmark should come at Molineux with the visit of Brighton the following Saturday.

Doherty has played 287 times in all since being signed by Mick McCarthy in 2010 – a haul of outings that leaves him with only 38 men ahead of him in the appearances list.

But he is poised to leapfrog several others in the last quarter of the season if he remains fit and in the rampaging form to which we have become accustomed.

Two players, Willie Carr and 19th century forward Harry Wood, stand narrowly ahead of him on 289, beyond which between-the-wars Molineux defender Albert Kay (295) would be the next man in his sights.

Given something like ever-present status in the fixtures remaining in 2019-20, Doherty could also overtake Jimmy Murray (299) and Bobby Thomson (300) before the summer.

If and when he manages that, he and the statistician fraternity might start to look forward to another significant landmark.

Passing the 300-match mark would leave him only three places below a coveted spot in the top 30 Wolves record appearance-makers through the ages.

Interestingly, one of those vulnerable to his rise is his long-time former team-mate, David Edwards, who was on 306 outings for the club when he joined Reading in the summer of 2017.

Please see the Legends area of this website to study Doherty’s standing among another 80-plus Wolves veterans in this exalted company.

To take a short-cut to a personal favourite, please type a surname and the word Legends into the search engine.