Nuno pleased with Wolves' Carabao Cup penalty win, but injuries sour evening
Wolves set up a mouth-watering Carabao Cup fourth round tie at Villa with a penalty shootout victory over Reading – but the win came at a cost for debutants Bruno Jordao and Meritan Shabani.
Jordao scored the opener for Wolves at Molineux last night but was carried off moments later with a twisted ankle.
Shabani, who had come on as substitute for the injured Portuguese, was then himself stretchered off with a serious-looking knee injury, meaning Wolves finished the match with 10-men.
Lucas Boye would go on to level for Championship side Reading in the last minute of injury time, taking the tie to penalties.
But Wolves came out on top and clinched a fourth round clash at Villa Park thanks to a 4-2 shootout win.
Nuno Espirito Santo said Jordao sustained an ankle injury but would not say what Shabani’s injury was with the 20-year-old set for a medical assessment.
Nuno said: “I think the first half was good, well played, a lot of players were new. I was very happy but very sad in the end with the injuries of Bruno and Shabani. Very, very sad.”
Speaking about the extent of Shabani’s injury Nuno could not reveal what had happened.
He said: “Shabani was alone. He will be analysed by a doctor and we will know what has happened but it looks bad.
“Bruno was a different situation.
“Someone fell on him and he twisted his ankle. Lets see.”
And Nuno says the noise played a part in helping his men set up that clash with Villa on the week commencing Monday October 28.
Ruben Neves, Jesus Vallejo, Ryan Bennett and Ruben Vinagre all scored from the spot as Reading’s John Swift saw his strike saved by John Ruddy and equalising hero Boye lifted his spot-kick over the bar.
That sealed a 4-2 win for Wolves and after making 10 changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace Nuno was satisfied to clinch a spot in the next round.
He said: “First half was good.
“We played good football, controlled the game, created chances and defended well.
“Second half not so good.
“When we went with one man less and Reading pushing more and crossing more the game was harder.
“But the noise was fantastic.
“In the penalty shoot-out our fans pushed the team.
“It is not easy to take a penalty with such noise but our fans played a part in that and I’m happy in the end because we want to go through and we go through.”
