Post by QPR Report on Mar 8, 2009 7:05:41 GMT
Hmmm! Way to go
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake:
Signed by Ian Holloway shortly after he arrive at Plymouth...A player we were linked with but ended up signing as he went off to Wolves...
Now Ebanks-Blake is set for the Golden Boots Award as Division's Top scorer - For the second season running. That's definitely one that our club - and whoever is in charge of signing players missed out on.
Telegraph
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake set to retain golden boot for Wolves
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is on course to win the Championship's golden boot for the second successive year but the Wolverhampton Wanderers striker admits that he is having to "work harder and be smarter" for his goals.
By Sandy Macaskill
Old golden boot: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scores from the spot at Crystal Palace last Tuesday - to take his goals tally for the season to 22 Photo: GETTY
A goal on Saturday against Sheffield Wednesday would take the former Manchester United trainee level with his tally of 23 goals from last term, and with his nearest competitor, Reading's Kevin Doyle, four goals behind, Ebanks-Blake is well placed to top the scoring chart again.
Some might say it is fitting that the Wolves forward should find himself frontrunner for the award this season, considering he was named after a winning racehorse. But it is more than just horsey coincidence, and besides, Ebanks-Blake insists he has other things on his mind.
"As a striker I pride myself on the goals that I score, and if I can win the golden boot again it would be nice," he said, "but that is not my main target this season, far from it." Promotion is, of course, the priority.
Wolves' 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night, courtesy of Ebanks-Blake's penalty, ended a run of five games without a win, restoring their lead at the top of the Championship to three points.
But, with the traditional warnings building that Wolves will blow the lead at the last, Ebanks-Blake knows that the club are in for a tough finish to the season.
"It is not a case of talking, it is a case of doing," he said. "You have to do your talking on the pitch. Me sitting here saying Wolves are going to do this, Wolves are going to do that, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that; it is only talk until you do it."
Such a statement is evidence of the drive and ambition which has propelled Ebanks-Blake to become one of the hottest properties in the league, the sort of determination which leads him to say that if he had not been a footballer, he would have gone to university – anything to give him the opportunity to succeed.
"I would have done anything that would have taken me on the route to doing something with my life," he said. "A few of my friends have taken different routes, but my thought process since I was a young boy has always been to be successful. That's why I was disciplined enough to leave home and try and make a career for myself."
At the age of 15, Ebanks-Blake turned down the offer of a scholarship at Cambridge United in favour of joining the Manchester United academy, where he had a "brilliant education" – unsurprising since he had the opportunity of learning from the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ebanks-Blake was sold to Plymouth Argyle for £200,000 in 2006, from where he was bought by Wolves for £1.5 million in January last year. He scored 12 times in the second half of the season for Mick McCarthy's team.
The striker has carried that impressive form into this season, and scored the first hat-trick of his career last month against Norwich.
It all means that he will be closely marked on Saturday afternoon. "They would be stupid not to single me out," he said,confidently. "Teams are more aware of me, so I've had to step my game up. I have had to work harder and be a bit smarter to get my goals.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/wolverhampton/4950410/Sylvan-Ebanks-Blake-set-to-retain-golden-boot-for-Wolves.html
Telegraph Sylvan Ebanks-Blake edges Wolves clear with win at Sheffield Wednesday
Resplendent in all-gold, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake headed Wolves' early winner at Sheffield Wednesday and remains on course to retain the golden boot award for his division.
By Phil Shaw
Last Updated: 10:26PM GMT 07 Mar 2009
Top of the pile: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake leads the scoring charts as Wolves lead the Championship with both causes aided with victory over Sheffield Wednesday Photo: PA
Resplendent in all-gold, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake headed Wolves' early winner at Sheffield Wednesday and remains on course to retain the golden boot award for his division.
This season, however, the precious metal in the 23-goal striker's sights is silver in the form of the Championship trophy.
Only 250 seconds had elapsed at Hillsborough before Ebanks-Blake, Mick McCarthy's £1.5 million buy from Plymouth 15 months ago, matched last season's tally to take the leaders seven points clear of third-placed Reading.
Michael Kightly set up the opportunity, the right-winger having also been instrumental in Ebanks-Blake's midweek winner at Crystal Palace, where he gained Wolves' late penalty.
With the minds of Wednesday's back line apparently elsewhere, Kightly received a throw-in from Kevin Foley and was allowed to cut the ball back on to his left foot before crossing to the far post.
Amid a posse of defenders, Wolves' serial marksman found space to power it into the bottom corner, leaving him nine matches to collect the seven goals that would make the first Wolves player to hit 30 in a season since Steve Bull 20 years ago. ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/4954255/Sylvan-Ebanks-Blake-edges-Wolves-clear-with-win-at-Sheffield-Wednesday.html
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake:
Signed by Ian Holloway shortly after he arrive at Plymouth...A player we were linked with but ended up signing as he went off to Wolves...
Now Ebanks-Blake is set for the Golden Boots Award as Division's Top scorer - For the second season running. That's definitely one that our club - and whoever is in charge of signing players missed out on.
Telegraph
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake set to retain golden boot for Wolves
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is on course to win the Championship's golden boot for the second successive year but the Wolverhampton Wanderers striker admits that he is having to "work harder and be smarter" for his goals.
By Sandy Macaskill
Old golden boot: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scores from the spot at Crystal Palace last Tuesday - to take his goals tally for the season to 22 Photo: GETTY
A goal on Saturday against Sheffield Wednesday would take the former Manchester United trainee level with his tally of 23 goals from last term, and with his nearest competitor, Reading's Kevin Doyle, four goals behind, Ebanks-Blake is well placed to top the scoring chart again.
Some might say it is fitting that the Wolves forward should find himself frontrunner for the award this season, considering he was named after a winning racehorse. But it is more than just horsey coincidence, and besides, Ebanks-Blake insists he has other things on his mind.
"As a striker I pride myself on the goals that I score, and if I can win the golden boot again it would be nice," he said, "but that is not my main target this season, far from it." Promotion is, of course, the priority.
Wolves' 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night, courtesy of Ebanks-Blake's penalty, ended a run of five games without a win, restoring their lead at the top of the Championship to three points.
But, with the traditional warnings building that Wolves will blow the lead at the last, Ebanks-Blake knows that the club are in for a tough finish to the season.
"It is not a case of talking, it is a case of doing," he said. "You have to do your talking on the pitch. Me sitting here saying Wolves are going to do this, Wolves are going to do that, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that; it is only talk until you do it."
Such a statement is evidence of the drive and ambition which has propelled Ebanks-Blake to become one of the hottest properties in the league, the sort of determination which leads him to say that if he had not been a footballer, he would have gone to university – anything to give him the opportunity to succeed.
"I would have done anything that would have taken me on the route to doing something with my life," he said. "A few of my friends have taken different routes, but my thought process since I was a young boy has always been to be successful. That's why I was disciplined enough to leave home and try and make a career for myself."
At the age of 15, Ebanks-Blake turned down the offer of a scholarship at Cambridge United in favour of joining the Manchester United academy, where he had a "brilliant education" – unsurprising since he had the opportunity of learning from the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ebanks-Blake was sold to Plymouth Argyle for £200,000 in 2006, from where he was bought by Wolves for £1.5 million in January last year. He scored 12 times in the second half of the season for Mick McCarthy's team.
The striker has carried that impressive form into this season, and scored the first hat-trick of his career last month against Norwich.
It all means that he will be closely marked on Saturday afternoon. "They would be stupid not to single me out," he said,confidently. "Teams are more aware of me, so I've had to step my game up. I have had to work harder and be a bit smarter to get my goals.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/wolverhampton/4950410/Sylvan-Ebanks-Blake-set-to-retain-golden-boot-for-Wolves.html
Telegraph Sylvan Ebanks-Blake edges Wolves clear with win at Sheffield Wednesday
Resplendent in all-gold, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake headed Wolves' early winner at Sheffield Wednesday and remains on course to retain the golden boot award for his division.
By Phil Shaw
Last Updated: 10:26PM GMT 07 Mar 2009
Top of the pile: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake leads the scoring charts as Wolves lead the Championship with both causes aided with victory over Sheffield Wednesday Photo: PA
Resplendent in all-gold, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake headed Wolves' early winner at Sheffield Wednesday and remains on course to retain the golden boot award for his division.
This season, however, the precious metal in the 23-goal striker's sights is silver in the form of the Championship trophy.
Only 250 seconds had elapsed at Hillsborough before Ebanks-Blake, Mick McCarthy's £1.5 million buy from Plymouth 15 months ago, matched last season's tally to take the leaders seven points clear of third-placed Reading.
Michael Kightly set up the opportunity, the right-winger having also been instrumental in Ebanks-Blake's midweek winner at Crystal Palace, where he gained Wolves' late penalty.
With the minds of Wednesday's back line apparently elsewhere, Kightly received a throw-in from Kevin Foley and was allowed to cut the ball back on to his left foot before crossing to the far post.
Amid a posse of defenders, Wolves' serial marksman found space to power it into the bottom corner, leaving him nine matches to collect the seven goals that would make the first Wolves player to hit 30 in a season since Steve Bull 20 years ago. ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/4954255/Sylvan-Ebanks-Blake-edges-Wolves-clear-with-win-at-Sheffield-Wednesday.html