Key events
Jiménez hit it but the Blackburn wall did its job.
Doyle cannot control it as the ball is fizzed into his feet in the box, eventually ballooning it over the bar.
71 mins: Ohashi steams into Lopez with what the referee deems an overzealous challenge and this will be a free-kick for Wolves, around 20 yards from goal, pretty straight.
One man fancies this…
70 mins: It’s decently worked around by Wolves, with Doyle involved straight away, but Lopez skews his cross and the ball lands on the top of Toth’s net, harmlessly enough.
Tension is beginning to set in around the stands at Molineux. The home side have 20 minutes plus stoppage time to rectify this situation.
68 mins: Both teams make double substitutions.
Tommy Doyle and Jackson Tchatchoua are the latest duo to be thrown on by Peixoto – Rodrigo Gomes and Trippier are the men they replace.
Ohashi and Fevrier are on for Blackburn, replacing Afolayan and Cantwell.
67 mins: One of Trippier’s final acts before being substituted is to hook in a cross that Toti Gomes can only tamely head down at Toth, who gathers easily.
65 mins: Dapo Afolayan arrived at Blackburn from St Pauli in January and had a quiet spell for the club at the back end of last season. He’s enjoying a stellar evening so far here, though, switching flanks and making himself difficult for Wolves to pick up.
64 mins: Cantwell squanders a good chance to pop the ball into the path of Afolayan, who again had found space in the Wolves box. Blackburn are still generating chances and half-chances, which will delight their manager.
62 mins: No surprise that Blackburn are now content to sit in their shape, pressing less often, asking Wolves to come and break them down.
It seems like a long time for them to purely defend, so they’ll have to retain that bit of bite on the counterattack, as the referee waves away appeals for a penalty when Jiménez hits the deck.
60 mins: The Wolves fans are in fine voice once again, because Jiménez is being ushered on by his manager. It’s his first appearance for the club since 2023 when he left for Fulham. Tommy Doyle is also coming on for the home side, though not yet it seems.
Mané has been withdrawn by Peixoto.
57 mins: Munetsi has been sharp all evening and wins a corner when his shot is deflected. Can the hosts strike back?
Here comes Sam Morsy for his Blackburn debut, replacing Adam Forshaw. Morsy is from Wolverhampton and was released by them as a youngster, before going to to represent Middlesbrough, Ipswich and others.
55 mins: Ryan Alebiosu is wreaking yet more havoc from the right-back position for Blackburn. His overlapping runs and exchanges with Morishita have been dangerous, making it a tricky night for Wolves left-back Møller Wolfe.
53 mins: Mané dances past Montgomery and wants a free-kick on the edge of the box, but instead is shown a yellow card for diving – which he cannot believe.
It probably wasn’t a foul but that seems a tad harsh, it wasn’t a theatrical dive in the typical sense.
52 mins: This wasn’t in the script for the 30,000 or so Wolves fans packed into Molineux on opening night …
51 mins: Mowbray said before kick-off that he’d picked Gudjohnsen for his goalscoring instinct between the sticks, as someone he could rely on to net those poachers’ goals. He has just done exactly that and the Blackburn fans are singing his name.
GOAL! Wolves 1-2 Blackburn (Gudjohnsen, 48)
Expertly worked by the visitors and a pure No 9’s finish from the Icelandic international. Molineux is stunned.
Morishita played an intelligent reverse ball into Afolayan, who darted into the right-hand channel and picked out Gudjohnsen, who was not tracked well enough by the Wolves defenders. The son of Eidur strikes once again for Rovers!
48 mins: The pressing is still pretty high-intensity from Blackburn, though it’s not always brilliantly co-ordinated and there are a few gaps between the lines that Wolves should exploit.
Another good breakaway, however, brings a chance for Afolayan, whose powerful effort is tipped over the bar by Bentley. I think that needed saving, you know.
46 mins: No sign of Jiménez yet, by the way. To be fair, Wolves showed towards the end of that second half they don’t necessarily need him to score goals against this Blackburn team.
Back under way. Let’s do this second half thing.
How long does Peixoto wait before introducing Raúl Jiménez? Straight away for the second half? Surely no longer than an hour? We’ll wait and see. It’s guaranteed to get the crowd going when the Mexican does appear.
A penny for César Peixoto’s thoughts, then, after watching his team for the first time in the Championship. Whether it’s a far cry from managing Gil Vicente in Portugal only he can say, really, but I’m sure he was under no illusions about the size of his task in one of Europe’s most physical and competitive leagues.
He’ll be happy with how his team grew into that half after a slightly nervy start tonight. And boy does he have some talent at his disposal. Lopez and Munetsi have probably been the best two players on the pitch, linking up delightfully for the opening goal.
As for Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn, they were as committed and solid as you would expect from a Mowbray side, but also played some nice football at times. You would not say the current scoreline flatters them at all, though you wonder whether Wolves’ superior strength from the bench might take its toll in the second half.
HT: Wolves 1-1 Blackburn.
A very watchable half of football opens the EFL season at Molineux. Blackburn started brightly, Wolves took the lead, Blackburn hit back, then the home side dominated without breaking through … all of which leaves us level at the break. An intriguing second 45 minutes is to come, you suspect.
I’m going to grab a quick drink.
We’ll have just the one minute of stoppage time.
45 mins: Blackburn are doing exactly what they need to do, just quietening the crowd down with another spell on the ball, slowing the tempo.
Alebiosu does get a cross in but Morishita’s foul stops the momentum. By the way, Forshaw and Cantwell have been booked for Blackburn, so that’s three visiting players in the referee’s notebook already.
42 mins: Nope! Wolves win it back and they’re unlucky not to get a big chance to score. Munetsi wasn’t quite in the right place after a good run from Armstrong, with Blackburn wobbling a touch.
41 mins: There are some ironic cheers from the Blackburn fans as their side finally win a free-kick thanks to more good play from Morishita. A quieter, and welcome, period of posssession follows for the visitors – who may sense a chance to fashion something before the break …
It’s Wolves who are now in charge as we get closer to half-time. Blackburn would bite your hand off to go in level at 1-1. The home crowd sense a chance to snatch the lead back, though.
Mané curls an excellent effort over from outside the box.
Five minutes or so, plus stoppage time, left in the first half.
38 mins: I’ll admit to not being too familiar with the work of Fer López before tonight. He spent the second half of last season on loan at Celta Vigo, having been signed from Celta in 2025.
The Spanish playmaker has been excellent so far, and he goes close with a potshot from 25 yards or so, just off target.
35 mins: Pickering has picked up the game’s first booking, trying to stay in touch with Rodrigo Gomes he was spotted tugging back the winger’s old gold shirt.
Trippier’s free-kick from deep on the right flank isn’t cleared at the first opportunity but Mané – who has been oddly quiet – puts in a poor cross from the other side.
33 mins: Lopez is starting the run the game from his No 10 position now, drifting into channels and linking the play. Alebiosu takes no chances, poking a dangerous cross away for a corner.
Toth (just about) collects the resulting corner from Trippier and Blackburn can breathe again.
32 mins: A smart turn from Munetsi, bringing the ball down, allows it to run into the path of Fer Lopez, whose shot is dragged wide of Toth’s goal.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/aug/14/wolves-v-blackburn-championship-opener-live
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