Matt Maher: Injustices will help motivate Wolves
What a maddening few days of cup football we have witnessed.
If Villa’s shambolic exit at the hands of Stevenage was entirely self-inflicted, Wolves have plenty of cause for consternation at their failure to progress in two competitions over the space of the past week.
At least in the FA Cup, there is still the opportunity of a replay, even if it feels Julen Lopetegui’s men had already done enough to be safely into the fourth round, after the nonsensical ruling out of Toti Gomes’ winner at Anfield and the equally bewildering law which allowed Mo Salah’s goal to stand.
Yet on Wednesday night at Nottingham Forest arrived an even bigger sickener, a straightforward penalty somehow not awarded by the referee in the final minutes of a quarter-final Wolves would eventually lose in a shootout.
Granted, matches are played over 90 minutes and the failure of Lopetegui’s charges to turn up for the first 30 at the City Ground must be factored into the result. You might also question, in hindsight, whether the head coach might have gone a little stronger with his team selection, albeit the XI he did start with could hardly be described as weak.
The most prominent emotion, though, was a genuine sense of injustice. No-one could argue Wolves haven’t twice in the past week had the rough end of the stick.
Perhaps, in time, it may come to be seen as a good thing? Much as the circumstances surrounding Wednesday’s defeat will burn for a while, one suspects Lopetegui will not have to work too hard to fire-up the troops for tomorrow’s six-pointer against West Ham and the battles beyond as they fight to retain Premier League status.
In truth, he’d already been doing a decent job of that, even without the officials supplying extra motivation. While Wolves remain far from perfect, there is a undoubtedly a much greater bite and resilience about them than prior to the Spaniard’s arrival.
They’re going to need more of it, in the weeks and months ahead, when you would hope the misfortune they have experienced with key decisions might also equal itself out.
