Eight-goal thriller at The Liberty

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28 April 2012

Relegated Wolves produced an astonishing recovery from 3-0 and 4-1 down to claim the most unlikely of 4-4 draws at Swansea in the Barclays Premier League.

Things looked grim for Terry Connor's side as Andrea Orlandi struck in the first minute before Joe Allen and Nathan Dyer extended Swansea's lead before the 15-minute mark.

But the visitors rallied as Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis pulled goals back either side of Danny Graham scoring Swansea's fourth, before second-half strikes from David Edwards and the outstanding Jarvis capped a breathless contest and secured a point.

The draw secured Swansea's Premier League status, but manager Brendan Rodgers will not have been impressed with the squandered advantage. However, anything other than a comfortable home win seemed unlikely when Wolves keeper Dorus de Vries, back at his former club, had to pick the ball out of his net twice in the opening four minutes.

Scott Sinclair's cross located Orlandi in acres of space for the Spaniard to find the net after just 25 seconds. The hosts doubled the lead with less than four minutes on the clock as Graham and Gylfi Sigurdsson linked well to free Allen and the midfielder's shot took a deflection off Richard Stearman to leave De Vries with no chance.

Things rapidly got worse for Wolves as a third arrived in the 15th minute. Orlandi tricked his way between Kevin Foley and Michael Kightly and his deflected ball across the box was headed in at the far post by Dyer.

Graham could have made it 4-0 moments later, but he hesitated and De Vries foiled his effort to slot home from an acute angle. Wolves managed to get a goal back when Kevin Doyle found space down the left and delivered a pinpoint cross for Fletcher to direct a free header over Michel Vorm.

But that only proved brief respite as Swansea replied with their fourth on the half hour. Dyer was afforded too much freedom on the right to surge into the box, and when his shot rebounded back to him, he lofted a lovely ball for Graham to coolly slot his 13th goal of the season.

The comical standard of defending continued as another Doyle cross came through to Jarvis, who cut inside Steven Caulker to place a finish beyond Vorm three minutes later, Ashley Williams making a hash of his attempted goal-line clearance.

Wolves found the net next as they sensed an extraordinary turnaround. Kightly's neat pass picked out the run of Edwards and the midfielder held off Monk's attentions to steer the ball past Vorm. An equaliser duly arrived in the 69th minute as Fletcher's first-time ball across the six-yard box was slid home by Jarvis for the winger's second of the game.

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