Wolves 4 v Rovers 2 (Friendly)

Wolevs recorded a 4-2 win over Blackburn Rovers at the weekend.

Paul Ince's return to the Molineux didn't go quite as he might have planned but the defeat could have been much worse following a first half injury to striker Santa Cruz.

Luckily it would seem the injury isn't serious and he should be fit to play in the first Premirship game against Everton at Goodison Park.

"Roque's fine. He got a knock on his Achilles," Ince told Sky Sports News. "I had my heart in my mouth for a minute sat up there in the directors' box

"I've had a chat with the physio and it's going to be two or three days, but he'll be ready come the start of the campaign. Roque's 19 goals were very important for us in how well we did last year.

“He's fine and he's all geared for the start of the new season."

The defeat will have come as quite a shock to many Rovers fans who are yet to make their minds up about the coming season. Many are worried that we might be part of a relegation battle despite finishing 7th last season. There's no question that we are set for an unpredictable season following the change in manager and loss of two key players in Bentley and Friedel but pre-season friendlies are simply allowing the new manager to try out various players and formations before our furst competitive match.

Paul Ince decided to go with a 4-4-2 formation on this occasion with the line-up as follows:
Robinson; Reid, Samba, Mokoena, Warnock (McCarthy, 76); Judge (Treacy, 62), Tugay (Vogel, 69), Dunn (Khizanishvili, 80), Pedersen; Santa Cruz (Roberts, 28), Derbyshire (Fowler, 76)

Rovers twice drew level in the first half after going a goal behind but the second half saw Wolves extend their lead with two further goals without reply from the Premiership opposition. Derbyshire scored the first goal after George Elokobi opened the scoring for Wolves. Andy Keogh quickly restored the home sides lead but Santa Cruz managed to square the contest just before he picked up an injury on 24 mins.

Second half goals from Chris Iwelumo and Matt Jarvis secured the 4-2 victory for the midlands side.

It would be nice to see Ince field a strong starting 11 against NAC Breda in the first home game of his Ewood career.