Wolves set up FA Cup derby but Gary O’Neil focused on Brighton

Posted Wednesday, January 17, 2024 by PA

Boss Gary O’Neil insisted Wolves must maintain their focus after booking an FA Cup Black Country derby against West Brom.

Matheus Cunha’s penalty saw off Brentford 3-2 after extra time on Tuesday and sent Wolves into the fourth round.

Nelson Semedo and Nathan Fraser twice hit back for the hosts after goals from Nathan Collins and Neal Maupay in an entertaining replay.

Wolves now go to The Hawthorns on January 28 for the first Black Country derby in three years – and first with fans in attendance since 2012.

“As soon as we walked off I was thinking about Brighton (in the Premier League). I understand fans will be excited, it will be a big atmosphere, it hasn’t been played with fans for a while,” O’Neil said.

“I can’t wait to lead the team down there and see if we can progress again. There’s a Premier League game coming up and I have a very small tired group to do some work with before we go to Brighton.

“I have mixed feelings about the performance but I’m delighted with the win. The lads have worked unbelievably hard over the two ties. We’ve talked about taking the FA Cup seriously, we went down to 10 men at Brentford and tonight got a bit awkward for us.

“The players deserve credit for how they have approached the whole tie. We gave Brentford a bit of a lift by giving them two crazy goals.”

Collins, who joined Brentford from Wolves for £23million in the summer, opened the scoring after 13 minutes when he prodded in after Kristoffer Ajer’s shot was saved.

Semedo and Pablo Sarabia went close before Semedo levelled after 36 minutes when he tapped in after Thomas Strakosha saved his initial header.

Back came Brentford, though, and Maupay restored their lead six minutes into the second half after a VAR check for offside.

Yet Wolves equalised again with 17 minutes left, Fraser drilling into the corner three minutes after coming on.

It set up extra time and Shandon Baptiste had a shot turned on to the post by Jose Sa before Cunha won it in stoppage time of the first period when Pedro Neto was tripped in the box.

Brentford will now have Ivan Toney available when his eight-month suspension for betting breaches ends on Wednesday.

Boss Thomas Frank said: “It’s massive, no doubt. It’s like signing a Premier League striker who can score 20 goals because he’s proved it.

“Every team would be happy to sign a quality player like him. Ivan is a top player but he’s also very good at making the whole team better.

“Tonight we did a lot of things right. The first half was a bit direct from our side. I was very pleased with the second half and in extra time. In general we put a lot of effort into the game and we could have won.

“The game was decided by a penalty which, in my opinion, is not there. Ben (Mee) clearly hit the ball into Neto’s feet. It’s difficult to make a call but unfortunately I can’t alter that.”