Winning Look Back Gets Us In Mood For Manchester

Wolves Heroes have enjoyed playing a part in setting up a feature that’s due to go out on Sky Sports in the hours leading up to tomorrow’s game at Manchester United.

It was at Wolves’ narrow defeat at Liverpool a month ago that we were asked by one of the company’s pitch-side reporters, Greg Whelan, to link them with various members of the last Wolves team to win at Old Trafford.

So we provided an introduction to Mel Eves, who was also at Anfield that afternoon, and subsequently passed on his phone number so he could be interviewed on camera at Molineux a week ago.

Eves scored the only goal when John Barnwell’s Wolves won at United on February 9, 1980 and will be present on behalf of BBC WM along with Daz Hale and Steve Hermon tomorrow teatime for the club’s second visit to the stadium this month.

One of his long-time team-mates, Kenny Hibbitt, has also been under the spotlight and been questioned again about a memorable triumph that came 40 years ago next weekend.

He had a visit from Sky to his home in the West Country last week, having also played when Wolves won 3-1 at Old Trafford in another top-flight fixture in January, 1972.

Sky Sports have also been hoping to speak this week to a third member of the 1980 side. Again, we offered to act as a go-between but will keep his identity under wraps for now in case that interview doesn’t come off.

The Wolves team who prevailed at Old Trafford exactly five weeks before the League Cup final conquest of Nottingham Forest were: Paul BRADSHAW, Geoff PALMER, Derek PARKIN, Peter DANIEL, John McALLE, George BERRY, Kenny HIBBITT (Colin BRAZIER), Willie CARR, Andy GRAY, John RICHARDS, Mel EVES.

Wolves have twice recently faced United in the FA Cup and cases of the club playing three games against the same opponents in the space of a month have become rare.

By our records, it hasn’t happened for a quarter of a century since the closing days of Graham Taylor’s reign included three games against Charlton – two of them in the League Cup – inside three weeks.

Before that, we have to go back to when Graham Turner’s side squared up to Hull in two League Cup matches and a League fixture in the autumn of 1990.

Historically, the trend was much more evident, with Coventry (1983-84), Villa (1981-82), Grimsby (1979-80), Ipswich (1975-76), Norwich (1973-74), Ipswich again (1972-73) and Leicester (1971-72) all facing Wolves three times within a month in the previous two decades.