FA Cup: Blackburn 0 Wolves 2 - Report

Despite the gulf in leagues, the hosts had the better chances in the early half and had a tight offside go against them, ruling out an opening goal.

Wolves’ clinical edge then gave them the advantage, as goals from Brazilian stars Joao Gomes and Matheus Cunha inside a minute of each other, put the visitors firmly in control.

Rovers had chances at the start of the second 45 before Wolves once again took control of the fixture, creating several chances that they failed to convert.

They saw out the win comfortably in the latter stages and will now look ahead to the cup draw on Monday night.

Analysis

Vitor Pereira made five changes to his Wolves side following the Premier League win over Villa, but still named a strong starting XI.

Sam Johnstone, Santi Bueno, Rodrigo Gomes, J.Gomes and Hwang Hee-chan all came into the side as Matt Doherty, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Andre and Pablo Sarabia dropped to the bench and Jose Sa was left out of the squad.

Deadline day signings Nasser Djiga and Marshall Munesti were named among the substitutes, as Craig Dawson missed out ahead of his expected exit from the club.

John Eustace made eight changes to his Blackburn side, with former Wolves skipper Danny Batth starting in defence.

There were debuts for Yuri Ribeiro and Emmanuel Dennis, while it was an unsettling morning for Rovers as Eustace was reportedly close to leaving the club for Derby.

Wolves dominated possession as the game got under way but the first chance fell for the hosts after a counter-attack, as Augustus Kargbo fired over inside the box.

Blackburn then had the ball in the net when Johnstone made a mess of a free-kick and Dom Hyam headed home, but he was flagged offside.

The warning signs were there for Wolves but they were caught out again when a long ball released Amario Cozier-Duberry, but R.Gomes did superbly to track back and win the physical battle to save his side.

Kargbo was constantly getting the better of Bueno and raced into the box again before going down under a challenge from Emmanuel Agbadou, but referee Lewis Smith gave Wolves a free-kick and booked the Rovers man for diving.

Wolves’ quality eventually shone through as they took a 2-0 lead with a pair of quickfire goals.

The first came when the ball fell for J.Gomes in the box and his shot squeezed under goalkeeper Balazs Toth.

An instant second came when a long ball from Agbadou caused problems and Nelson Semedo’s lovely pass found Cunha, who fired into the bottom corner.

Blackburn almost responded when Joe Rankin-Costello had a shot just wide, before Kargbo forced Johnstone into a save.

Wolves suffered a blow just before half-time as Hwang Hee-chan was forced off with an injury. The player looked distraught and was seemingly clutching his hamstring, as Wolves took a 2-0 lead into the break.

As the second half got under way, Hwang was replaced by Sarabia while Bueno, who struggled in the first 45 and was on a booking, came off for Doherty.

Todd Cantwell spurned a chance for Blackburn early in the half, as he blazed over the bar from close range.

After that early chance, Wolves began to take control of the game again but were struggling to find the final pass after getting into good attacking positions.

In the 66th minute Wolves made a double change which saw Munetsi come on for his debut, but the defensive midfielder remarkably seemed to be playing up front.

He made an instant impact with a fantastic ball to release Sarabia down the right and his cross was met by Cunha, who headed just over the bar.

Munetsi then almost got a debut goal when he met a fantastic R.Gomes cross but his diving header was wide.

The debutant was then dropped a bit deeper into midfield, but with licence to get forward, and he almost got on the end of a Cunha flick in the box.

Munetsi came close again to scoring when a corner was only cleared as far as him on the edge of the box, but his fierce effort was not on target.

The midfielder looked desperate for a goal and had another chance with Toth to beat, but his weak shot was saved.

Makhtar Gueye should have done better with a strong shot that Johnstone saved, before Wolves countered and saw a Cunha cross knocked over the bar by Sarabia, who should also have done better.

The impressive Toti Gomes went on another bursting run from defence that set up Cunha, but his shot was saved.

Wolves saw out the remaining minutes of the game comfortably to book their place in the next round.

Key Moments

GOAL 33 J.Gomes gives Wolves the lead

GOAL 34 Cunha’s strike quickly makes it 2-0

Teams

Wolves: Johnstone, Semedo (Ait-Nouri, 83), Bueno (Doherty, 45), Agbadou, Toti, R.Gomes, J.Gomes, Bellegarde (Munetsi, 66), Guedes (Andre, 66), Cunha, Hwang (Sarabia, 45).

Subs not used: Bentley, Djiga, Doyle, Forbs.

Blackburn: Toth, Rankin-Costello, Hyam, Batth, Ribeiro, Forshaw (Hedges, 83), Buckley, Cozier-Duberry (Dolan, 57), Cantwell (Gueye, 57), Kargbo (Weimann, 66), Dennis (Woodrow, 66).

Subs not used: Pears, Brittain, Beck, Travis.