Doherty to the fore again as Wolves progress to last eight
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS are becoming the most unwelcome party guests at Ashton Gate.
Having launched the slow and painful death of Bristol City’s promotion hopes with victory here last year, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men rode their luck this time to kill off the hosts’ proud recent run as Europe’s most in-form team.
Nuno, who previously apologised for over-zealous celebrations when these two teams last met, said progression to the FA Cup quarter-finals was a “moment of joy”.
Wolves had considered their opponents equals. Not even Manchester City have enjoyed a better recent run of results than Bristol City had until yesterday.
Once again, tempers flared as City coaching staff were enraged by the Wolves response to a winning goal.
Assistant coch Jamie McAllister escaped with a booking after being pulled away by colleagues during a half-time scuffle.
“This time I wasn’t involved,” said Nuno with a smile.
Lee Johnson, the City manager, said that it was “handbags” and claimed that the true moment of controversy had been Wolves’ winning goal, which should have been stopped during the build-up for a handball before Matt Doherty broke clear and crossed into the path of scorer Ivan Cavaleiro.
“I wasn’t sure if we were playing Wolves or the Harlem Globetrotters at one point,” said Johnson.
City took a while to settle in against Wolves’ industrious 3-5-2 set-up.
Wolves then scored after 28 minutes when Doherty skinned Jay Dasilva down the right and the ball appeared to bounce up and hit the full-back on the hand.
Play carried on, however, and he sent a low cross into the path of Cavaleiro, whose close-range effort slipped through the grasp of Frank Fielding.
On 52 minutes, City would rue a shocking miss. Callum O’Dowda burst down the right before aiming a neat cut-back in to the onrushing Dasilva, one of three on-loan Chelsea players in City’s line up. His body language said it all, however, as he leaned back and fired over.
At the other end, Wolves were a fingertip save away from doubling their lead. Joao Moutinho sent in a blistering free-kick from 18 yards, but Fielding reacted well to tip over.
Nuno hinted afterwards that he was now starting to dream of lifting the FA Cup.
“I don’t rotate the team,” he said. “Doing so well gives us the chance to become a better team. I believe we can win every match.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)