I said in my Preview blog that a Cup Run can breed confidence, and although we may have left ourselves with too much to do Playoff wise this season- a Cup Run would keep the fans happy, and give us something to get excited about. A Win in the manner in which we did although its probably taken years off my life, is most definitely going to (or should) galvanise the players who have looked a bit lethargic since Christmas.
I've been loathing these paragraphs since Christmas, it is of course where I look at the goals. The First Goal was an absolute peach, Stafylidis- who I thought was great tonight putting in an inch perfect cross (YES, AN INCH PERFECT CROSS FROM A FULHAM FULL-BACK) and a great header from Woodrow. I thought the game was going to be pretty dull in the second half, I thought Wolves would be walking dead by 60-70 Minutes given how congested their two games were- and we would pass the game away. Instead it all went absolutely mental. Wolves were definitely worthy of their equaliser, the number of times they hit the woodwork was pretty ridiculous before they scored- and Wolves must have thought it wasn't their day. I don't think we could have done much for Edwards' first- Iorfa (who looks like a quality player) put in a good cross and that was that. Similar case with the Van la Parra goal- we were simply carved open by a quality ball. Woodrow's second was probably the easiest goal he'll get all season, but at the end of the day they all count and it was the Tap-In that kept us in it. I think we should have done a bit better for the Fulham goal, yes I acknowledge it was Extra Time etc. but to allow a player of the build of Batth to win the ball, advance and then cross is unacceptable. We rarely get penalties in open play, or in any form- but its good to know when we get Penalties in Open Play we have multiple players who can take them and convert them.
If you want an interesting fact, aside from the Sidwell Penalty last season against Spurs- to my best knowledge the last time we missed a Penalty was Kasami when we played Chelsea and lost on Penalties, which I think was in 2011.
Once again Bettinelli proved himself to be a vital player- despite conceding. Him, and the frame of the goal were the only reasons we weren't on the receiving end of a cricket score in the second half. As it stands I'd rank our Top 3 Players of the season as;
1. Christensen
2. Bettinelli
3. McCormack
The overall defensive performance wasn't great, but as I've already said some of the individual performances who were in the defence- I've already highlighted Stafylidis and Grimmer was also quality tonight. It frustrates me as much as anything else when we have such schizophrenic players in our team, and don't get me wrong I'm happy we've gotten through- but certain players perked up today when there weren't any points available. The defence we currently have is far from perfect, but it is good enough in my opinion if we decide to hold off on the Summer before making defensive signings, and of course with Hoogland and Amorebieta coming back soon we will have versatile options in the defence.
The Midfield was a mixed bag tonight. Fofana despite his tendency toward losing possession counterbalanced that with decent attacking play tonight- and he definitely played a lot better than he has recently. Kavanagh I thought played really well tonight as well, its bizarre how some of the players who were picked under "him" are starting to flourish, with Sean Kavanagh being the prime example. I'm slightly worried about Parkers fitness for Saturday given the conditions they were playing in- combined with the fact he played 105 Minutes, I'm sure the physios will work with him tomorrow- but given the fact Tunnicliffe and Kacaniklic will be eligible for Reading I wouldn't want to risk him getting injured as well given we're without Christensen at the minute. I'd be interested to see McCormacks heatmap from tonights game because it seemed like he was everywhere- and while I disagree with him playing deep, as you may have managed to guess if you read my last few blogs, if we can get a performance like we did from Woodrow- combining with a Rodallega who will hopefully be re-energised now he's put in the winning penalty I'm willing to persist at least until 5 O'Clock on Saturday.
Given the fact we were on a 4 Game barren run, I'm just happy we scored a goal- let alone three. As I've already said Woodrow played really well tonight, and has probably done enough to cement his place in the Eleven for the next few games. The same cannot be said for Dembele, while the way we won was much more exciting than it could have been- Dembele missing an open goal in the first half could have been the turning point, and had we gotten a two goal winning margin I doubt we'd have let it slip.
The Subs we made (for once) actually done something for once- because Kit gave them enough time. Pat Roberts' penalty was way beyond his years, and highlighted the quality he does have- and the confidence he has at such a young age; the same can be said for Woodrow's Penalty. As I've already said Hugo scoring the winning penalty was a good end to the game- and in a way I'm happy it was him because after the chance he should have put away late in Extra Time he would have probably been slated if we hadn't won. Zverotic came on too late in the game to make any real impact, and as I've already said- it was probably more to do with Parker needing to come off than wanting Zverotic to come on.
Overall, this was a great cup game. We're now headed to Sunderland a Week on Saturday- and with Kacaniklic and Tunnicliffe being eligible, potentially Christensen being back in time and Sunderland firmly needing to focus on the league the way they're playing at the moment I would honestly say we have a good chance of getting into the hat for the 5th Round.
Thanks for reading as always, I've now firmly gotten back to a normal heart rate- but I was shaking like a leaf during the Penalty Shoot-Out as I'm sure many others were. Now lets carry on this goalscoring form, and confidence into the League on Saturday.
I'd also like to briefly pay tribute to Sir Jack Hayward, I'm sure many people who are closer to Wolves will do a better job of it- but I'd just like to say I respect anyone who goes out of their way for their club like Hayward did, and despite me being happy we're through- My thoughts are firmly with his family and Wolves.
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