Hi-Ho Wolverhampton!! A night in the Black Country

Traffic chaos, motorway tolls and a gap that needs minding.

Wolves 0 Arsenal 3

With Emerson off school for Easter, I decided to treat him to this midweek trip to Wolves. He cannot usually go to midweek games as he would never get up for school in the morning, so this was a rare opportunity and he was really looking forward to it.

We set off from Darlington at 3.30pm which meant we should have arrived in Wolverhampton by half past 6. But that was not taking into account an accident which had closed the M1 Southbound at Nottingham, which we did not find out about until we were approaching Leeds.

The closure was not until Junction 26 and we were turning off at Junction 28, but the traffic jams started just after Junction 29. That, however, was only the start of the problems. When we finally reached Junction 28, for the A38 , everyone had decided to turn off there as well so we crawled all the way to Derby.

By now our ETA had been put back to 7.16pm as we still had over 60 miles to go, and suddenly getting there in time for kick off was looking in doubt. Thankfully the traffic finally started to ease around the Burton area and we back on the road.

The next problem was the M6 Toll. Having not used it before, Emerson and I were trying to guess how much it would cost. He went for £1.50, although I'm not sure which decade he was thinking of. I thought it would be somewhere in the region of £3.00 so you can imagine our surprise when we saw a sign that said £5.50! Unbelievable! So, after paying over-the-top prices for fuel and road tax, we now had to pay another £5.50 to use a stretch of motorway.

Unsurprisingly it was empty. Having been struck on the old M6 around Birmingham many times in the past it was relief to have a clear run, especially as time was now against us, but five-pound-bloody-fifty??

Anyway, we finally arrived in Wolverhampton just after 7 o'clock and found a nice little estate to park the car, about a 10 minute walk from the ground. Having used the money I had set aside for parking on the toll, I now had little option other than to take my chances parking in a side street, but it seemed many Wolves fans were doing the same so I guessed it would safe.

I had not been to Molineux since the late 1990's and it has changed a little since then. The new stand, which is being build behind the goal at the North end of the stadium, will improve the overall look of a ground, which is decent enough by modern standards anyway.

We had to meet my mate Dan to collect the tickets outside the away entrance and Emerson was now getting very excited. He loves to get in the ground early to sample the atmosphere so we picked up the tickets and went straight in.

We were in the Steve Bull Stand, lower tier, situated opposite the Main Stand, facing the tunnel. Our seats were in the back row but virtually right on the halfway line which led to a great view.

View for our seats

It was 7.40pm now and the teams were about to come out. Emerson likes to play a score prediction game around this time and asked me what I thought the score would be.

''4-2,'' I replied, trying to remain positive.

''Well I'm going for 4-1,'' he said confidently. ''Wolves are bottom so we should thrash them.''

Oh the naivety of youth...does he not remember QPR?

Emerson had heard about the Sylvan Ebanks-Blake song the Wolves fan sing when he scores, so he was hoping the 1 would be from him. However, he was disappointed to hear the Wolves striker would only be on the bench.

The match kicked off and was basically all over inside ten minutes. Theo was brought down in the area by 5pur2 loanee Bassong, who was shown a red card, and Robin cheekily chipped home the penalty to equal a Premier League record of scoring against 17 different sides in one season. It would of been 18 too had he his goalbound header against City on Sunday not been cleared by Vermaelen.

Less than a minute later it was 2-0. Theo played a 1-2 with Robin before slotting home his 11th goal of the season. Yes, that's 11 goals he has scored this season, on top of the 13 he got last season. And to think many people say he has no end product...

Emerson was overjoyed as he had already seen his two favourite players score and we hadn't played more than 12 minutes. This, he said, could end up 10-0!

Emerson celebrating going 2-0 up

But we started to feel a bit sorry for them after that and took our foot off the gas, deciding, instead, to just keep the ball. The crowd behind the goal began booing Theo for his part in the sending off and it did seem to affect his game. After looking so dangerous in the early exchanges, he now appeared a little tentative and began making mistakes. Shame.

Despite that the Wolves fans did at least show some humour.

''How shit must you be, you've only scored 2,'' they sang.

I guess when you are in their situation you have to laugh.

Half time saw a penalty shoot-out between kids representing both clubs. Of course Emerson wanted the Arsenal kids to win but it was fixed so Wolves won 6-5. They even allowed a penalty to stand that had clearly been saved by the Wolves mascot who was in goal, but hey, even Emerson did not begrudge them a rare victory.

I was hoping we would really go for it in the second half and boost our goal difference, but we still appeared to be stuck in second gear. However, we could still have scored five or six as Ramsey missed two sitters, while Robin somehow fired wide from close range after good work from Ramsey down the right. Emerson could not believe he had missed.

''Perhaps he just did not want to score,'' he said.

The legend that is Theo Walcott in action

But we did get a third twenty minutes from time, and it was good to see Yossi get it with an instant shot on the turn from 18 yards. The Israeli had another great game and I would love to see him sign on a permanent basis in the summer. It also gave Emerson the chance to sing the Yossi Benayoun song, which is one of his favourites, and more than made up for the non-appearance of Ebanks-Blake.

Fair play to Wolves, they did not let their heads go down and Chesney was forced into two outstanding stops to deny Doyle and Fletcher, but this was as comfortable a victory as we have had all season.

With about five minute to go the travelling Gooners started singing 'Tottenham, Tottenham mind the gap' and Emerson loved it. He started jumping up and down, waving his arms about singing it and didn't stop until we had got back to the car. He had found a new favourite song and wanted everyone to know about it.

Another away win

I would like to take this opportunity to give praise to a player I have been critical of many times in the past. Although not put under an enormous amount of pressure, Johan Djourou had a very tidy game. He won most things in the air and had a calmness about him all night. Perhaps I was too quick to criticise him in the past and I am prepared to hold my hands up and say I may have got it wrong. He has been playing out of position at right back, or alongside the error-strewn Squillaci, so I think it is was unfair to criticise him. Yes, this was only one game against ten men for 80 minutes, but he looked solid and assured, so well done to him.

Another who has frustrated is Aaron Ramsey. He had another one of those games where he looks like he has bags of ability but seems unable to utilise it. He hangs on to the ball too long, runs around in circles a lot, and when presented with an opportunity to score, he fails to convert. At times he plays as the most forward of the midfielders but does not seem suited to that role at all. Rosicky, who has been playing there recently, does it so much better, as does Jack when he's fit.

On a brighter note, has there been a better central midfield partnership than Song and Arteta this season? The Spaniard has been the buy of the season and has brought another dimension to Song's game. The two were outstanding again here and makes the future look very bright indeed.

Emerson showing his appreciation for a job well done.

Anyway, after a stop off at Mcdonalds to allow the traffic time to clear, we set off on what would be another journey from hell. I decided I did not want to pay another £5.50 on the toll so we went up the old M6, only be told we could not enter the M62 as it was closed. Great! So we had to go the long way around, via the M54, before the long trek through the roadworks over the Pennines.

The journey was brightened up by a good old sing-song, with Emerson giving his rendiditon of the 'Mind the Gap' song about 50 times, before we switched on the CD and sang along to 'Crazy, Crazy Nights' all the way up the A1(M). Emerson just loves that song and it pretty much summed up the events of our trip. A crazy night indeed.

So, despite the travel problems it was a great night all in all. The win lifts us five points clear of 5pur2 with five to play and brings St. Totteringham's Day ever closer. Plus, I got home in time to see the goals again on Sky Sports News. The red card did seem a little harsh but it was only Bassong so who cares? Mind the gap...