Wolves 3 – 2 Brentford

Wolves arrange an FA Cup derby showdown with West Brom after a battling extra-time win over Brentford.

Matheus Cunha’s penalty despatched Gary O’Neil’s facet by to the fourth spherical because the hosts finally sealed a 3-2 replay victory at Molineux.

Wolves hit again by Nelson Semedo and Nathan Fraser in regular time after Nathan Collins and Neal Maupay twice gave the guests the lead.

However Cunha’s extra-time spot kick booked a Black Nation derby at The Hawthorns, the primary in three years, on January 28.

The Bees might be left with a clean weekend however will at the very least have Ivan Toney accessible having missed him throughout a barren winter, throughout which they’ve gained as soon as because the begin of November.

The striker completes his eight-month ban for betting breaches on Wednesday.

The 1-1 draw within the preliminary tie ended a five-game dropping streak for the Bees and confidence nonetheless appeared low till they scored towards the run of play after 13 minutes.

Wolves had been within the ascendancy however had been caught when Kristoffer Ajer wriggled goal-side of Matt Doherty.

His fierce effort was parried by Jose Sa however, when the ball was performed again in, Maupay’s shot was blocked and Collins bundled the ball in from six yards.

It was half redemption for Collins who endured a nightmare towards his former membership within the Premier League final month, gifting them three targets in a 4-1 defeat.

It didn’t deflate Wolves, although, they usually went near a leveller after half an hour.

Cunha cross discovered the unmarked Semedo and, with Thomas Strakosha stranded, the defender’s shot was blocked by Brentford’s massed ranks on the road.

The ball ran for Pablo Sarabia however he may solely put his effort into the facet netting.

But the hosts didn’t have to attend lengthy for a leveller six minutes later when Semedo reached Cunha’s flighted cross, his header was parried by Strakosha however he had the best of duties of tapping within the rebound.

It ought to have given Wolves the additional momentum however they had been behind once more six minutes after the break.

Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross precipitated issues on the sting of the field and when the ball ran to Maupay he smashed in excessive from eight yards. The striker was initially dominated offside however, after a two-minute VAR test, the objective was given.

Maupay has scored simply 4 targets this season – and solely 5 since February 2022 – with two coming towards Wolves after his strike within the authentic sport.

Brentford had been dreaming of the fourth spherical, which that they had solely gone past as soon as since 2006, and Mikkel Damsgaard curled a free kick at Sa.

However the tie continued to twist and Wolves levelled once more with 18 minutes left when substitute Fraser, on for simply three minutes, drilled into the nook.

A minute later the ahead ought to have put the hosts forward just for Strakosha to tug off a beautiful close-range cease.

From then extra-time loomed and Sa turned Shandon Baptiste’s effort onto the publish quickly after the restart.

However Wolves snatched a deserved win in stoppage time of the primary interval when Cunha transformed from the spot after Pedro Neto had been tripped.

O’Neil specializing in Brighton earlier than WBA match

Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil:

“As quickly as we walked off I used to be desirous about Brighton [in the Premier League]. I perceive followers might be excited, it will likely be an enormous ambiance, it hasn’t been performed with followers for some time.

“I can not wait to guide the staff down there and see if we will progress once more. There is a Premier League sport arising and I’ve a really small drained group to do some work with earlier than we go to Brighton.

“I’ve combined emotions concerning the efficiency however I am delighted with the win. The lads have labored unbelievably arduous over the 2 ties. We have talked about taking the FA Cup critically, we went right down to 10 males at Brentford and tonight obtained a bit awkward for us.

“The gamers deserve credit score for the way they’ve approached the entire tie. We gave Brentford a little bit of a elevate by giving them two loopy targets.”

Frank questions choice to award late penalty

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank:

“Tonight we did quite a lot of issues proper. The primary half was a bit direct from our facet. I used to be more than happy with the second half and in extra-time. Typically we put quite a lot of effort into the sport and we may have gained.

“The sport was determined by a penalty which, in my view, shouldn’t be there. Ben [Mee] clearly hit the ball into Neto’s ft. It is troublesome to make a name however sadly I can not alter that.

“It is huge [to have Ivan Toney back], little doubt. It is like signing a Premier League striker who can rating 20 targets as a result of he is proved it.

“Each staff could be joyful to signal a top quality participant like him. Ivan is a high participant however he is additionally excellent at making the entire staff higher.”

What’s next?

Saturday twentieth January 5:00pm


Kick off 5:30pm

Wolves return to Premier League motion on Monday evening as they go to Brighton & Hove Albion on the Amex Stadium; kick-off 7.45pm.

Brentford host Nottingham Forest on the Gtech Neighborhood Stadium on Saturday again within the Premier League; kick-off 5.30pm, stay on Sky Sports activities.