The Matchday Live Extra team of former Old Gold full-backs Andy Thompson and Lee Naylor were full of praise for Hee Chan Hwang after Saturday's win over Luton Town.
The South Korean scored his first club goal of the calendar year in the first half, which set the Old Gold on track for a return to winning ways, which was confirmed when Toti headed in the crucial second goal after the break.
Thompson and Naylor, alongside Mikey Burrows, dissected the victory at full-time, and although they’d have liked fewer nerves late on, they insist three points were more important than the performance.
The win was the important thing
Thompson said: “They needed to win. Both teams struggled to get any fluidity in their passing and play. They found it hard, each team. The second goal was a quality build-up and good finish from Toti, and Hwang getting the first goal. It’s all about the result, getting yourselves over the line. They made hard work of it, but they did it.”
Naylor said: “I thought we were cruising in the second half and when went 2-0 up I saw signs of sloppiness and when you do that sort of thing, it comes back and bites you. They got a goal back and it became a bit of a mess. We got over the line and three points is what this game is all about.”
Hwang back on song
Naylor said: “I’ve always believed that if you work hard, you get your rewards. I thought he worked hard and made some unbelievable runs down the line. He was trying to get in, he was battling, and it wasn’t easy against their defence. He was up there on his own against three defenders, even though one tried to man mark him. Essentially, it was him up there on his own and I thought he led the line brilliantly with his runs. He’s still not the same as what he was before, but if you work hard up there, you get your rewards.”
Thompson said: “Especially first half, I thought some of his runs across the back line of Luton, he was unfortunate a lot of the time that he didn’t get played. He made it a problem for them. Mengi was man marking him and it made it difficult for him, he fancied himself against Hwang with his strength and aerial power he had, but he kept going, running across and making it difficult for him, on the shoulder all the time. When you’re doing that and working hard, doing the runs, it’s wasted a bit sometimes. That’s what you’ve got to do as a striker, you’ve got to be willing to keep going and he did that in the first half. There were runs which got ignored, but good runs, and there was two or three times we got down the side from his running. He worked hard against big, physical opponents and kept going.”
From one end to the other.
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 28, 2024
Hee Chan opening the scoring 🇰🇷 pic.twitter.com/kwtqkNVSd4
Hwang getting sharper
Thompson said: “Brentford when he was on fire, scoring regularly, then he went away with his national team. Coming back, he wasn’t looking himself and picked up an injury, so he’s had some setbacks. I’m hoping he stays injury free for the remainder of the three games, because he’s starting to look a little bit sharper. He looked a little bit better and he’s got to make sure he keeps doing the right things. Get good habits and keep those basics right. There was a couple of times it got played up to him and he tried to lay it off first time, but it didn’t come off. He’s got to take care of the ball, he's got to make sure that he takes care of the ball, because we need him to hold the ball up for us to get out and build. He looked a little bit sharper.”
Semedo not killing the game off
Thompson said: “You’ve got to kill the game off. You don’t want to leave it up to chance to allow the other team to get themselves into it. One versus one, you’re in the central position, he’s bearing down on goal, so I don’t understand why he didn’t hit it with his right foot. He’s tried to roll his foot over the top of it and hit it with his left foot, but he ended up scuffing it with his left foot and it’s trickled into the goalkeeper. That’s where you’ve got to be clinical, you’ve got to kill games off. He’s got to do better. He knows what’s at stake and by getting that goal, it puts it all to bed and it’s all done. It makes life a lot easier for your team. We said they’d probably get a goal and all of a sudden it's nervous.”
Naylor said: “We came into the game, we scored and came out second half a lot better. As soon as we went 2-0 up, it’s a sticky scoreline, and if the opposition get any inkling that you’ve stepped off the gas, the atmosphere changes. It happened and the atmosphere changed and the game went a bit sloppy.”
✊👆👏 pic.twitter.com/mgcPnN81gY
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 28, 2024
Cunha being a constant threat
Thompson said: “He gives you that option. He runs the ball and gets you up the pitch. It makes it difficult for teams to mark because he’s got the quick feet when the balls played into him, and he moves it really hard and he’s gone.”
