Comment: Aston Villa cruise by Wolves youngsters to continue Carabao Cup journey
Dean Smith often talks of Villa having a proud history in the League Cup and for much of Wednesday night it was tempting to wonder whether they had ever enjoyed a more straightforward route to the last eight.
Victories over League Two Crewe and a collection of Brighton's kids was followed by another over Wolves, in a derby which failed to ever really spark.
Only in the few minutes after Patrick Cutrone had cancelled out Anwar El Ghazi’s first-half opener during a rare Wolves attack did the occasion come close to living up to expectations.
Ahmed Elmohamady got what proved to be the winner during that period, while Cutrone went close to levelling again.
Otherwise, this was very much low-key fare but perhaps what we should have expected from teams who made a combined 20 changes from their previous fixtures, with Wolves handing out full debuts to three under-23 stars.
Those 6,000 or so Villa season ticket holders who chose to stay away can relax in the knowledge they did not miss much. Villa deservedly advanced and for them the competition is very much becoming a priority. Wolves, as Nuno Espirito Santo’s team selection indicated, have other fish to fry.
“It’s never been a massive derby,” Dean Smith had opined before the match. You would never have guessed that at kick-off, such was the atmosphere at kick-off, one roar from the Wolves supporters packed into the North Stand returned with interest from the Holte.
It was the visiting fans who made most of the noise in the early exchanges, goading their hosts with a series of less than flattering songs.
On the pitch, it was Villa who had most of the ball, though they could find no way through Wolves’ disciplined backline.
It looked like a match between two teams with little collective playing time, as passes went astray and touches lacked sharpness.
Trezeguet in particular was guilty of wasting good positions when he over-hit passes, first for Neil Taylor and then for Conor Hourihane.
Otherwise, Villa were dominant and though Wolves were defending resolutely, there was a sense something had to give and it did in the 28th minute.
Wolves backline retreated en masse to deal with Hourihane’s cross and when the ball was cleared it found Douglas Luiz and Henri Lansbury in acres of space. The latter took advantage, finding El Ghazi on the right-hand side of the box and though Ruddy got a hand to the shot, he could not prevent it trickling over the line and sparking a blast of noise from three sides of the ground.
It was a cruise for Villa for some time after that and Wolves needed something, anything to spark belief.
Inspiration came from a local in the form of Kingswinford’s Taylor Perry, who dived in to rob Luiz and then delivered the centre which Cutrone volleyed past Jed Steer.
Wolves were level for less than two minutes. Lansbury fired in a free-kick and Elmohamady flicked the ball toward goal. Again, Ruddy was unable to keep it out.
Still, Villa’s confidence had been dented and the contest finally felt on. A poor Neil Taylor backpass set Cutrone clear but the Italian shot too close to Jed Steer.
