The Grandest Of Entrances

Tom Edozie’s dramatic stoppage-time contribution against Arsenal last night has had us racking our brains for similar debut-day heroics.

To go on with six minutes remaining at home to the Premier League leaders in a match shown live on TV and to have such a decisive impact is truly the stuff dreams are made of.

While praying that the dubious goals panel leave the equaliser against the name of the 19-year-old academy product, we have also come up with these examples of players making dramatic entrances to Wolves’ first team.

August 31, 1946: Wolves’ first match as League football resumed after the war was at home to last night’s Molineux visitors and brought debuts for half the team. Result: Wolves 6 (Jesse Pye 3, Dennis Westcott 2, Jimmy Mullen) Arsenal 1. Wow!

September 7, 1966: An early-season Second Division clash at Molineux was a much lower-key setting but David Burnside’s strike just past the hour was still highly remarkable. He had been a Palace player until the day before and was actually named in the programme for this 1-1 draw in the visitors’ line-up.

October 8, 1966: This was a busy season for instant impacts. Bob Hatton made one that was more instant than most, scoring in the first 29 seconds of his Wolves debut at home to Portsmouth in a 3-1 Second Division triumph.

March 25, 1967: Home debut day for Derek Dougan was against Hull during the promotion run-in and he quickly made himself the darling of the North Bank with a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory. Thank goodness the footage of his extraordinary contribution from that night’s Match of the Day survives.

March 15, 1975: Only the one goal for the debut-maker on this occasion but the result was dramatic enough in itself. Wolves hammered Chelsea 7-1 on the top-flight afternoon on which Willie Carr pulled on the gold and black for the first time, the midfielder being joined on the score-sheet by John Richards (2), Mike Bailey, Kenny Hibbitt, Steve Kindon and Dave Wagstaffe.

September 15, 1979: Andy Gray, having just become British football’s costliest footballer, scored in a thrilling 3-2 win at Everton, followed up with one when maximum points were gleaned at home to Manchester United and then hit two in another high-scoring victory, this time at Arsenal. Molineux was alive and rocking!

September 27, 1992: Darren Roberts was a Villa fan plucked out of part-time football but used his full League debut to score a hat-trick in the first 31 minutes of a televised Sunday derby at Birmingham and set up a 4-0 Wolves victory.

August 9, 1997: Seventeen-year-old Robbie Keane struck two beauties to give Wolves a first-day victory at Norwich and announce himself as a star in the making.

September 18, 2001: Kenny Miller hinted at the heroics to come when, in his first Wolves start, he headed the first of his 63 goals for the club to set up a 3-2 second-tier victory at Gillingham. It was followed by another at Walsall three nights later and he was off and running.