Northampton 1 Wolves 3 – match report

Wolves left their best until last as substitute Bacary Sako sealed victory with a stunning strike.

The £3m signing from St Etienne – one of three debutants with Georg Margreitter and Razak Boukari - stunned Sixfields with an unstoppable 25-yard strike in the second minute of time added on after coming off the bench.

Sako's goal clinched a tie away to Chelsea in the third round.

And it sealed a much-improved second half display by Stale Solbakken's side.

Wolves led 2-1 at the break after first senior goals for the club from Danny Batth (16) and Frank Nouble (45) were split by Wolverhampton-born Clive Platt's 40^th-minute header.

Wolves boss Stale Solbakken made nine changes to the team that were fortunate to draw 1-1 against Derby on Saturday, with only Carl Ikeme and David Davis keeping their places, while Margreitter and Boukari were in the starting line-up for the first time.

There was no place for Dorus De Vries, Dave Edwards, Kevin Doyle or Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in the 18.

Platt's goal was no more than the Cobblers deserved as Northampton started the better side and looked capable from setpieces, but they didn't have the quality or the cutting edge to really trouble Wolves.

Former Walsall striker Alex Nicholls had the first chance in the second minute after bursting clear through the middle after David Davis gave the ball away.

But from 25 yards he fired well wide of Carl Ikeme's goal.

The Cobblers kept pressing and Ben Tozer was presented with the next opportunity.

But the midfielder couldn't make a proper connection as the ball bounced up from Platt's headed knockdown from Joe Widdowson's deep cross and Ikeme easily gathered.

Seconds later, Wolves broke for the first time but Anthony Forde's cross-shot rolled across the face of goal.

After weathering the early storm, little had been seen of Wolves until they took the lead with their first serious attack.

Forde's corner appeared to hit Batth on the knee to squirt past 17-year-old rookie keeper Dean Snedker.

Another careless pass by Davis saw Northampton's next break in the 26^th minute, but the impressive Chris Hackett's low shot was comfortable for Ikeme.

Twelve minutes later, the alarm bells were sounding again for Wolves when David Artell couldn't react quickly enough to Hackett's corner in front of the goal-line and the defender only succeeded in heading the ball away from goal.

But the goal the Cobblers had threatened duly arrived in the 40^th minute when Platt rose above the Wolves defence to head home Hackett's cross.

Despite the equaliser and an unconvincing first-half performance, Wolves broke to regain the lead in the first minute of time added on before the interval.

It was another scruffy goal, and Nouble knew little about it when he got a flick to the ball after Boukari's deep cross had been helped back into the danger area by Forde, who got better as the game wore on.

Nevertheless, the goal was the perfect antidote to a patchy first 45 minutes and ensured Wolves came out revved up for a much-improved second half display.

As Wolves came into it, they showed a big improvement and created numerous chances as the tempo was raised significantly by the visitors.

Bjorn Sigurdarson and Boukari saw efforts blocked, while Davis saw a sublime low, curling attempt fingertipped away by Snedker in the 51^st minute as Wolves enjoyed their best period of the game in the 20 minutes immediately after the restart.

Batth was a fraction away from heading in Forde's vicious cross before captain for the night Richard Stearman curled his shot straight at Snedker.

The 17-year-old rookie keeper then produced good bravery when he blocked from clean-through Davis, after Boukari's lob left the midfielder galloping clear in the 63^rd minute.

Northampton's only attempt of the second half was a deflected effort by Ben Harding which flew narrowly over.

But Wolves returned to the attack and substitute Slawomir Peszko saw his shot blocked by Widdowson and it flew just wide from Sigurdarson's cross.

Then came Sako's moment of class to seal the tie and clinch that date at Stamford Bridge.