On a hale and blustery north Lancashire day Wolves showed Blackburn how to finish and thus secured one of the fifth round’s numbered balls in Monday evening’s draw.
John Eustace’s men may bewail their luck as they were not schooled by their Premier League visitor but the sport is simple: if chances are spurned and the foe is ruthless they are triumphant and so the six-time winners are out.
Related: Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Wolves: FA Cup – live reaction
And they may soon require a new No 1 as Eustace has been approached by Derby, whose offer is understood to include a salary hike.
Wolves, famous gold-strip vivid in the grey afternoon, hoped to stroke possession about and have Rovers chase them yet the wish was disrupted by an Eustace unit headed by a bright front-three, operating behind Emmanuel Dennis.
On the right of the trident Amario Cozier-Duberry cut inside and saw a shot deflected into Sam Johnstone’s hands. Then, on the opposing flank, the livewire Augustus Kargbo, on full debut, swept in, executed a one-two with an overlapping Yuri Ribeiro, but blasted over.
Vitor Pereira’s XI included his alpha-forward Matheus Cunha. Soon, class oozed from the Brazilian’s footwork down the left: it allowed him to find Rodrigo Gomes who relayed to Hwang Hee-chan and his effort was blocked.
In the elemental conditions the contest’s punch and counter-blow warmed the senses. Kargbo’s pace was chief, as the Sierra Leonean motored down his corridor, casting Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, who hoped to stop him, as a spectator. Santiago Bueno, also trailing, had to chop the No 47 down.
What ensued was a lucky escape for the visitors. John Buckley drifted the free-kick into the far post, a marooned Johnstone was helpless, Dom Hyam leaped and nodded in, but was flagged offside. Replays showed he was almost certainly not but, as with Harry Maguire’s clear offside winner for Manchester United against Leicester, no VAR meant the decision stood.
At this juncture, Rovers gameplan could be called Find Kargbo because the jet-heeled forward was an ongoing menace that Eustace’s men looked to locate constantly. He collected on halfway and launched a raid that took him clean into Wolves’ area. Afer two mesmeric bodyswerves he appeared to be felled by Emmanuel Agbadou. But, on appealing for a penalty, Lewis Smith booked Kargbo, Replays proved the referee correct: the player hit his foot into the Wolves defender’s boot so induced the fall.
Kargbo’s afternoon was about to plummet further. Passing out from the back, the ball came to him but an amateurish miscontrol ceded possession and Wolves pounced. Suddenly Hwang was finding Gonçalo Guedes who relayed to João Gomes: the shot was aimed low and left and close to Balazs Toth, but the goalkeeper’s error allowed the ball underneath him and in.
What followed was those in gold celebrating and, in quick-quick time, a second from them. Again Rovers imploded to allow Cunha to finish a front-to-back sequence. Up went a high ball along the inside-left channel. Collecting centrally, by the Rovers D, Cunha shifted play right, continued in this direction and, when he received once more, the strike was rapier-like, going across Toth into the far comer.
At the break Rovers, if honest, would curse themselves for self-inflicting the damage. Required was to ensure the next goal was theirs or that would make the tie near-irretrievable.
A Buckley cross clutched by Johnstone, Dennis’s burst onto a Kargbo pass, and Todd Cantwell blazing over informed Wolves the game was not over. Yet: in all these forays, final-third profligacy was Rovers flaw.
An abacus would help to keep track of the misses, as Cantwell’s free-kick was next palmed away by Johnstone, before Eustace replaced the No 8 with Makhtar Gueye. Rovers controlled the ball but Wolves controlled them, largely, allowing keep-ball in their half’s middle third but no closer to Johnstone’s goal.
As the seconds ticked away it frustrated Rovers and Buckley’s wildly off-target 40-yard shot was emblematic. At 2-0 up and cruising Wolves had the luxury of patience regarding when to move to prise their host open.
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Two illustrations came. Rodrigo Gomes probed down his left wing, cut back onto his right foot, and stood the ball up for Marshall Munetsi whose glancing header nearly gave the substitute a dream debut. A little later, Cunha meandered in from the same flank, Rovers rearguard slumbered, and the 25-year-old’s effort was palmed out by Toth. At the corner the ball bounced to Munetsi but the Zimbabwean’s radar was off again.
In the story of Rovers’ afternoon Gueye, clean in, failed to beat Johnstone, who saved. Like lightning, Wolves moved upfield and Pablo Sarabia, another replacement, also disappointed in front of goal. At the final whistle this emotion lingered for Rovers.
