Wolves escape cup upset with late victory over Gillingham

Julen Lopetegui’s new era at Wolves got off a winning start as they beat Gillingham 2-0 at Molineux in the Carabao Cup.

Wolves progress through to the quarter-finals of the competition thanks to Raúl Jiménez’s penalty on his return to the side and Aït-Nouri’s goal off the bench.

Jiménez was a well-welcomed substitute by the Wolves fans who saw their side dominate most of the cup tie at home.

The first chance of the game fell to Hugo Bueno with the Spaniard firing straight at Jake Turner in goal for the Gills from the left side of the box after a nice move with Joao Moutinho.

Joe Hodge’s shot from inside the box was seen away for a corner in the 14th minute before Mandron looked to get in behind for Gillingham’s first chance, yet saw the flag raised being caught offside.

Diego Costa flicked a header on with his back to goal as Daniel Podence clipped the ball over the defence to find him alone in the box, however the striker couldn’t hit the target for the team in gold and black.

Gillingham earned their first corner of the game on the half and hour mark with Nélson Semedo seeing the ball away yet it came to nothing for the away side.

Jose Sa was called into action as Gillingham looked to press, the goalkeeper meeting a cross from the left side to punch it away before the Wolves defence eventually cleared their lines.

Ruben Neves found himself with a perfect shooting opportunity with a freekick just outside the edge of the box. The midfielder shot just wide to the left of the goal with Jake Turner at full stretch in goal for Gills.

Wolves had their best chances of the game with both Hodge and Podence denied from close range inside the Gillingham box with a double block to keep it goalless at the 38th minute.

Daniel Podence looked for the opener with his long-range one-bounce effort saved by Turner diving to his right to deny the Wolves number 10 in the 41st minute.

Gonçalo Guedes then found Joe Hodge at the back post from the left side of the pitch with a perfect cross to the Wolves man unmarked on the edge of the six yard box.

However, the Irishman couldn’t convert heading wide to the right, squandering the opportunity to give his side a half time lead.

Ruben Neves struck the post with the final kick of the half as Daniel Podence dummied a corner played out to the edge of the box for the Portuguese midfielder to try and curl one towards the top right corner, only to be denied by the woodwork.

Adama Traoré replaced Joe Hodge for the second half with the home side switching to a four at the back.

Wolves pressed for an early second-half opener but were unable to break through the Gillingham defence as Hwang Hee Chan and Matheus Nunes were brought on after the hour mark.

Nélson Semedo’s left footed effort from the right side of the edge of the box sailed well wide to the left before Gillingham replaced their striker Mandron with Scott Kashket.

Diego Costa headed wide before Raúl Jiménez received a very welcome return to Molineux replacing Daniel Podence with his song belted out by the crowd.

The corner from the right side led to a Wolves penalty with Hwang fouled in the box leading to referee Michael Salisbury pointing to the spot.

Jiménez converted well for Wolves, tucking it away in the bottom right corner to give Wolves the lead in Julen Lopetegui’s first game in charge at Molineux.

Diego Costa was replaced by Rayan Ait-Nouri in the 80th minute before a Reeves free kick for Gillingham was held comfortably by Sa in goal.

Gills substitute Scott Kashket was ambitious with an overhead kick unable to hit the target as Wolves went up the other end of the pitch and doubled their lead.

Ait-Nouri found the back of the net firing into the right bottom corner from close-range after great work from Wolves on the left with Hwang pulling it back to the substitute.

Hwang had a chance of his own to make three but was unable to convert with Wolves seeing out the game comfortable 2-0 winners in Julen Lopetegui’s first official game in charge.

It’s a perfect start for the Spaniard at Molineux and he will loom for the same again when the Midlands side return to action on Boxing Day against Everton at Goodison Park.

Attendance: 26,953

Starting Lineups:

Wolves: Sá, Semedo, Collins, Kilman, Bueno, Hodge, Neves (C), Moutinho, Guedes, Costa, Podence

SUBS Sarkic, Aït-Nouri, Jiménez, Hwang, Toti, Ronan, Nunes, Adama, Lembikisa

Subs used: Adama, Hwang, Nunes, Jiménez, Aït-Nouri

Gillingham: Turner, Alexander, Wright, Ehmer, Baggott, Tutonda, Jefferies, Williams, O’Keefe (C), Mandron, Adelakun

SUBS Holtam, Macdonald, Lee, Reeves, Kashket

Subs used: Kashket, MacDonald, Reeves, Lee

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