NOTTINGHAM, England – Wolves’ longest run in the Carabao Cup in 27 years came to an end in the quarter-finals after Julen Lopetegui’s side lost to Nottingham Forest on penalties.
Wolves were beaten by one of their former players after Willy Boly put Forest ahead on 20 minutes when he headed the ball into the net from a matter of yards. The wolves grew in the game and were well up in the second half when Raúl Jiménez converted Matheus Cunha’s cross at the far post.
With the teams unable to settle after 90 minutes, the contest went to penalties, and when Ruben Neves missed his first kick, Wolves needed to score with their fifth to bring it to sudden death as Joe Hodge came close to the mark, but the young midfielder found his shot saved by Dean Henderson, sending the hosts through to the semi-finals.
With so many games in such a short time, Lopetegui once again rotated his squad for the second game in a row, bringing in six new starters on top of those who lined up for the FA Cup at Anfield four days earlier.
It was one of those changes that had the best opening of the game in gold and black as Hee Chan Hwang got into a good position on the left, but the Korean ventured into an offside position with Wolves moving forward.
A rudimentary opening of the game saw Forest get most of the first chances, and it was Wolves Academy graduate Morgan Gibbs-White who was behind most of them from the hosts. The midfielder put a lot of balls into the area, but the red shirts didn’t reach them.
That was until another former Wolves man opened the scoring just inside the first 20 minutes. After a corner was tapped off the bar by Jose Sa, before being headed on the woodwork by Rayan Ait-Nouri, Boly was there to drive the ball in from close range. The defender showed quiet celebrations against his former club as he ran back to his own half after scoring.
Wolves grew to half, and Forest was indebted to his goalkeeper for maintaining his lead. Henderson did well to come down and collect Goncalo Guedes’ shot from the edge of the box, before the visitors had several chances to level the score.
Firstly, Henderson made a good save to cover Jiménez’s shot after the Mexican went on target after a deft one-on-one with Hwang, and although the rebound fell to Guedes, he could only finish over the bar. Minutes later, the Forest keeper had to be at his best to deflect Hwang’s shot from his net after the Wolves striker hit a sweet volley home.
half time | Nottm Forest 1-0 Wolves
As in the first half, Wolves came off slower on both sides after half-time and needed Sa to be at his best to deny former team-mate Gibbs-White. The midfielder shot from 20 meters but the goalkeeper went down well to clear the ball from his goal with his palm.
The game spun on the hour mark. Boly had to go out through injury, and Wolves brought in Cunha and Daniel Podence, and the change had an almost immediate impact. Just five minutes after coming off the bench, the Brazilian found space on the right before firing a low cross to the far post for Jiménez to finish off.
In the last half hour, Wolves hurled everything forward to try and get a goal, but the hosts were holding back bodies and trying to counter at half-time.
With Adama Traore introduced in the last 15 minutes, he tried again and again to get past the Forest defense, but each time the red jerseys doubled over the Spaniard.
But as Wolves searched for a winner, the game dragged on, though neither side was able to upset their opposing goalkeepers. Hodge had a chance to convert the ball from inside the box after some clever work from Cunha and Podence, but he couldn’t get the required contact.
The match was heating up in the closing stages as Wolves’ late appeals for a penalty after sensing Nunes fouled just inside the box led to altercations between both sets of players, but the final whistle brought penalties as the sides they could not be separated. after 90 minutes.
Information: Wolverhampton.
