WOLVERHAMPTON: Coventry City stunned Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 with two injury-time goals in a rollercoaster FA Cup tie at Molineux Stadium on Saturday as the Championship side reached the semi-finals for only the second time in the club’s history.
Wolves had looked set for a trip to Wembley after Rayan Ait-Nouri cancelled out Ellis Simms’ second-half opener, and Hugo Bueno then put the home side ahead in the 88th minute.
But Simms grabbed a second in the seventh minute of added time before team mate Haji Wright scored the winner in the 10th minute of injury time, curling his shot into the corner to send the Coventry fans, team and staff alike wild with delight.
Simms’s double made him the first Coventry player to score five goals in a single FA Cup campaign since Keith Houchen in 1986-87, the year Coventry won the cup — the biggest trophy in the club’s 140-year history.
“A great occasion, the fans have been amazing and we’re just delighted. I’m so proud of the lads. We’ve dug in, and even at 2-1 down we never gave up,” Simms told ITV.
“It’s going to be a great occasion at Wembley. We want to go all the way. The next round will be tough against a top Premier League team but we will give it our all and go in with all guns blazing.”
Coventry took the lead in the 53rd minute from a free kick when Simms bundled the ball into the net, with the goal awarded after a lengthy VAR check for handball in the buildup.
Wolves, who were missing Pedro Neto, Hwang Hee-chan, Matheus Cunha and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde through injury, had offered very little threat until Ait-Nouri swept home in the 83rd minute when Coventry failed to clear a cross.
“Credit to the players and the fans, the players gave everything and Coventry met us on a day where we weren’t at full strength and they were able to capitalise on it. They deserved to win the game,” Wolves manager Gary O’Neil told the BBC. “Losing in a quarter-final is obviously a missed opportunity, we produced as good as we could produce. That was it, the lads gave everything.”
Then, five minutes later, substitute Bueno put Wolves in front with his first senior goal, and a ticket to the semis had looked all but guaranteed.
But Simms grabbed a second at the far post to keep Coventry alive before Wright sent their fans into delirium with the winner.
“There’s a lot of quality in our side and as long as we believe and keep trying, we can take our chances,” Wright said. “It’s amazing to make it to Wembley and it will be good fun for all of us. Hopefully we can enjoy it [today] and then get back to work.”
LUTON RESCUE DRAW WITH FOREST, BURNLEY KEEP SURVIVAL HOPES ALIVE
In Premier League action on Saturday, Luton Town’s Luke Berry struck late to salvage a crucial 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, while Burnley kept alive their faint survival hopes with a 2-1 victory against Brentford on Saturday.
As the fight to avoid relegation comes to a head, Luton and Forest met in a potentially decisive showdown at Kenilworth Road.
Forest, beaten in their previous three games, took the lead through Chris Wood’s first-half strike.
But Berry came off the bench to equalise with just one minute to play in normal time.
Third-bottom Luton, who blew a three-goal lead in Wednesday’s disastrous 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth, are without a win in their last nine games in all competitions.
They sit three points behind fourth-bottom Forest, with both sides having nine games left to preserve their top-flight status.
Luton’s late leveller was painful for Forest, who face the potential threat of a points deduction before the end of the season after being hit with a Premier League charge over alleged financial breaches.
Wood put Forest ahead in the 34th minute, drilling past Thomas Kaminski from close-range after Morgan Gibbs-White’s chip picked out the New Zealand striker.
But Hatters substitute Berry levelled with a close-range strike from Reece Burke’s header in the 89th minute.
At Turf Moor, second-bottom Burnley won for the first time in 11 league games since a 2-0 victory at Fulham in December.
Vincent Kompany’s side took the lead in the 10th minute when Vitinho sprinted onto Josh Cullen’s pass and was about to shoot when he was pulled down by Sergio Reguilon.
The Spanish defender was shown the earliest red card in the Premier League this season, after a VAR check, and Jacob Bruun Larsen stepped up to convert the spot-kick.
Brentford were nearly gifted an equaliser when Dara O’Shea’s errant backpass had Burnley ‘keeper Arijanet Muric scrambling to clear off the line before pushing away Ivan Toney’s rebound.
David Datro Fofana fired wide with a golden opportunity to double Burnley’s lead, but the on-loan Chelsea forward made amends in the 62nd minute with a composed finish into the far corner.
Kristoffer Ajer got one back in the 83rd minute with a diving header from Bryan Mbeumo’s cross, but the Clarets held on for their first league win in 2024.
They are now eight points from safety with nine games left.
Brentford have won only three of their past 18 league games and sit just four points above the relegation zone.
Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2024
