Lee Naylor's long throw was headed on by Cort and Camara's right-foot volley on the turn found the net via Mark Schwarzer's outstretched hand and an upright. The arrival of Joseph Desir?ob brought Boro's worst miss, a complete failure to connect right in front of goal from Maccarone's inviting low centre. In the final minute, another late substitute, Alex Rae, was tripped in the penalty box by George Boateng. The fact that the over-confident Camara made a hash of the kick did nothing to diminish his popularity or to take the shine off Wolves' day.Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Middlesbrough 0 Cort 28, Camara 62Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 27,975. Monte Carlo on their minds? Not a bit of it, maintained Claudio Ranieri, who for the second home match in succession attempted, rather unconvincingly, to explain away a disturbing absence of goals. Here, the Chelsea coach could have attributed his team's failure to garner the points necessary to increase the divide between them and third-placed Manchester United to the undoubted arch-culprit Adrian Mutu.
Yet the striker, forging a rare partnership with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, simply epitomised the overall malaise within a side who began and finished with promise, but otherwise, by Chelsea standards, were distinctly ordinary.Beforehand, Ranieri had analysed the lack of points from last Saturday's Middlesbrough match and the defeat at Aston Villa on Monday with the explanation: "I think the great victory at Arsenal has taken some psychological energy from us."Here again, the arguably more pressing matter of Tuesday's visit to Monaco appeared to disturb his team's equilibrium, just as it had done in their last two Premiership games Afterwards, Ranieri argued: "I saw my players very focused We wanted to do everything right. But we got nothing."Frankly, he was being too generous to his team. Part of the cause may have been simply attributable to lack of key personnel. No John Terry (resting a damaged ankle, the legacy of a kick at Villa Park), No Eidur Gudjohnsen or Damien Duff (both suffering from "a fever"), no Hernan Crespo (injured) and, after 24 minutes, no William Gallas who departed with an apparent hamstring problem.This wasn't a performance which will have instilled any undue fear in any watching spies from Monaco, whom Ranieri described as "a wonderful team, with four wonderful strikers and two wonderful wingers. We have a lot of respect for them."From wonderful teams to wonder-boys. That enterprising Everton principal shareholder and theatre impresario, Bill Kenwright, may perhaps have considered a musical based on events at the home of the London Blues as he sat through the contest.More likely, he will have been concerned with preventing Chelsea wresting away his coveted forward, Wayne Rooney, who again demonstrated what a loss he would be should the 18-year-old ever listen to overtures from yesterday's opponents.
The England man led the line valiantly alongside Tomasz Radzinski and, but for the alertness of goalkeeper Marco Ambrosio, would have furnished Everton with a half-time lead.By the end, Everton claimed their point by dint of some desperate defending and awful finishing by Chelsea, which left them nine points behind Arsenal. The chances required a prolific forward like Bobby Tambling, the club's all-time leading scorer who received a rapturous reception when he appeared at half-time. Instead the faithful could only watch in irritation as Mutu and Hasselbaink squandered numerous chances and Frank Lampard twice struck woodwork.Ranieri made four changes to the starting side who lost 3-2 to Aston Villa, the most conspicuous absentee being Terry, who was on the bench following 14 consecutive starts. The forward pairing of Mutu and Hasselbaink linked effectively early on, but the Dutchman lashed his first inviting chance high over the bar. David Solomona started the rot with a perfect pass for Semi Tadulala to tiptoe in at the corner.
The Tigers even took the lead, when a high kick from Francis Maloney caused chaos and Dean Ripley scored.Ben Jeffries tied the scores with a solo try before the break and the second half belonged exclusively to Wakefield, despite the loss of their playmaker, Jamie Rooney, with a worrying ankle injury. It's up to the directors to give me their full backing or make the call." Wakefield's outstanding captain, Gareth Ellis, got them moving when he ran wide to take Jason Demetriou's floated pass for their first try before Castleford levelled the scores through Sean Ryan. Graham Steadman went to talk to disgruntled fans who sat in protest on the terraces after seeing Castleford fall apart in the second half to suffer their seventh defeat in as many games in Super League this season. His next chat could be with the club's directors. Castleford were swept aside by the rampant Wildcats, who scored six tries in the last half-hour of what became an embarrassingly one-sided contest. "In 13 years at the club, I'm at my lowest ebb," Steadman admitted. "To be beaten in the manner we were in the second half is just not good enough." But he denied any intention of resigning "I'm not going anywhere. At least the fans of both teams can be reasonably confident that no one is betting on the opposition..