On Sunday afternoon, Wolves beat Bristol City to put themselves through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2002/03. It’s been an incredible season for them so far and their win against Bristol City only made things even better. Ivan Cavaleiro scored the only goal of the match in the first-half, with Wolves putting in a great effort in the second-half to prevent their opposition from getting back into the game.
Overall Performance
The possession was pretty evenly shared with Bristol just slightly edging it with 51%. Cavaleiro’s goal was the first shot of the match in the 28th minute, and even though Wolves created less chances than their opposition the goal was what made all the difference. Bristol only managed one shot in the first-half, and despite a massive second-half improvement of 18 shots, five on target, they just couldn’t get the ball past the Wolves defence and into the net.
Wolves committed a whopping 17 fouls and picked up two yellow cards, whilst winning less duels than their opposition. While they dominated the beginning of the match, Bristol dominated the end, making Wolves work for their place in the quarter-finals.
One of the players who has been particularly impressive in this cup run is Matt Doherty. He has been involved in five goals in his last three FA Cup appearances (three goals, two assists), with one of those assists being for Cavaleiro’s goal. He has definitely given fans something to be happy about.
Ruddy Marvellous
After his error against Shrewsbury, many were doubtful of John Ruddy’s form, but I think he really redeemed himself on Sunday with an excellent performance. Ruddy pulled off some fine saves, including in the dying moments of the match to keep out a shot from Bristol City keeper Frank Fielding. He and his defence worked together to make sure the job was done and Wolves were safely through to the quarter-finals.
He made a total of five saves, one punch, one high claim, one clearance, and won three out of three duels. He also played nine accurate long balls and 15 accurate passes. This lead him to receive the highest SofaScore rating (8.0) of all of the players involved in the match.
Conclusion
A nice clean sheet for Wolves who worked hard to take down a persistent Bristol City. Cavaleiro’s impressively worked goal was what made the difference in the end as Wolves edged their way through.
Their reward for making it to the quarter-finals is a home tie against Manchester on Saturday 16th March at 7:55pm, with the Arsenal match being rearranged. Wolves will fancy themselves to get the win, especially in front of what will be an absolutely rocking Molineux crowd. However, United have been on great form so it won’t be an easy one.
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