Derby Win Sends Hopes Soaring

Like Dave Jones and Graham Taylor before him – a long time before him, as it happens – Cesar Peixoto has lit up the early weeks of his Molineux reign with one of the most precious of wins.

There is little a new manager or head coach can do to more quickly curry favour among the gold and black fraternity than inspire a victory over Albion.

And the thoroughly deserved three points the Portuguese helped to stockpile today amid the climb to fourth place in the table has put credit in the bank that will last long beyond the extended international break now clouding the horizon for those consumed mainly by club football. 

We have been here before in such times of promise, of course, but this was only Wolves’ second victory in nine derby clashes, so the elation at full-time reflected the fact that some head-to-head pride had been restored.

Wolves were also coming off a spell of Albion dominance in the fixture when Graham Taylor oversaw a reversing of the order in the third game of his only full Molineux season.

The Baggies had achieved a home and away League double the previous season to help hasten the departure of Graham Turner, who had famously achieved considerable success in the local showdown several years earlier, largely through the goals of Steve Bull.

Images of the striker were printed on the front cover of today’s match programme before his appearance in front of the Sky Sports cameras during their coverage of the game.

Bully’s close pal, Andy Thompson, was on radio co-commentary duty as normal today and was one of the scorers (from a penalty) during Taylor’s introduction to the rivalry in August, 1994 in another lunchtime game played in the Molineux sun.

Jones’s settling-in period at the club seven years later was boosted no end by a 3-1 mid-March home success over Albion two and a half months after his appointment. It became known as the ‘George Ndah game’, the speedy forward scoring twice and then striking in the first minute of the side’s next match to seal another derby triumph, this time at Birmingham.

Peixoto celebrated last night with Portuguese friends and will presumably spend time in his homeland as a follow-up to this winning return by his team to Molineux after four successive fixtures on the road. 

Wolves have still played more away League games than at home in 2026-27 and even had two trips in three ties in the Carabao Cup.

Long before they contemplate the derby return five months today, though, their home supporter base will have plenty more sightings of them. A run of four home games in five in the latter weeks of October will see to that.

So what’s the derby overview of Wolves’ other managers of the last 40 years? 

Mark McGhee, with a Hawthorns draw (Mike Stowell penalty save from Andy Hunt included) followed by an emphatic Iwan Roberts-inspired home and away double in 1996-97, had happy days in the series before his fortunes dipped.

Not so Colin Lee or Mick McCarthy, though. The former Republic of Ireland boss was improbably in charge for four defeats against the Baggies in the club’s otherwise morale-restoring 2006-07 campaign.

Some of the balance was redressed by Jay Bothroyd’s winner in the League clash at Molineux in the March but Mick lost seven and won only two of his 11 Black Country derbies.

Surprisingly, Nuno didn’t fare well against Albion. The Wolves side under his management picked up a draw and a defeat from from his only two derbies, both of which were played in deserted grounds.