A Date On Which Wolves Have Been Decidedly Hot!

We are not in any way hailing this as a good omen for Wolves’ Premier League game at Norwich this afternoon – but nevertheless hope it is.

November 27 has brought some special and spectacular wins for the club over the decades, so all eyes on Carrow Road to see what today brings.

None was more eye-opening than the 8-2 Second Division massacre of Portsmouth at Molineux on this day in 1965 – a victory so emphatic that even John Holsgrove scored two of the seven goals he totaled in a stay of more than 200 appearances.

Hugh McIlmoyle and Bobby Woodruff also netted braces, with Ron Flowers and Dave Wagstaffe on target, too, but spare a thought for the mickey-taking Terry Wharton and Ernie Hunt presumably received for missing out.

“Eight bloody goals and I didn’t get any of them,” said Wharton, the wearer of the no 7 shirt. “We obviously didn’t have any penalties but I just hope I made one or two for the other lads.”

A curious aspect of this day of delight early in the Ronnie Allen era was that six of the goals came in the first half.

Fast-forward to 1971 and this same date brought out another major show of firepower as Bill McGarry’s side returned from a midweek win at Carl Zeiss Jena to defeat struggling Albion 3-2 at The Hawthorns.

John Richards hit one of the trio of goals and did even better exactly five years later when, just after his return from a knee operation, he netted a hat-trick in a 4-2 success at Orient.

London was again the location for some sharp-shooting on this day in 1982 when Graham Hawkins’ team headed for a Division Two fixture at Crystal Palace.

Wolves once more rattled in four goals and needed all of them in order to secure maximum points, with their hosts coming up with three of their own.

The previous two games had ended in defeats for the club, each with four conceded, and the signs were less than promising as Palace surged into a 2-0 lead inside four minutes.

But, in front of the Match of the Day cameras, Mick Matthews, Wayne Clarke and Andy Gray struck to turn the clash round by half-time and midfielder Matthews hit what proved to be the decider following the interval.