Bristol City 1-2 Wolves: Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rodrigo Gomes on target for Vitor Pereira’s side as they book their place in the FA Cup fourth round
Vitor Pereira last night declared his decision to treat this FA Cup tie like a training session a success.
The Wolves manager made no secret of his desire to use the game as a platform for Premier League survival, with a daunting trip to Newcastle on Wednesday in mind.
But Pereira went against the norm by fielding his strongest possible side at Ashton Gate to make sure they are ready for Tyneside.
His strategy meant that new £17-million defender Emmanuel Agbadou was handed a debut following his midweek move from Reims.
And may have thought English football would be doddle as Rayan Ait-Nouri headed Wolves into an eighth minute lead before the outstanding Rodrigo Gomes doubled the lead on 21 minutes with a deft finish.
City hit back when Scott Twine’s 25-yard free-kick beat ex-England keeper Sam Johnstone in first-half stoppage time to set the stage for a tense second half that saw chances come and go for Wolves.
Wolves survived a late scare to defeat Bristol City at Ashton Gate and progress in the FA Cup
Rayan Ait-Nouri gave the visitors the lead before Rodrigo Gomes doubled Wolves’ advantage
Scott Twine put Bristol back on level terms with a stunning free kick but they could not find an equaliser
And City almost equalised late on when Ross McCrorie nodded Twine’s free-kick against the underside of the crossbar as Wolves were pushed all the way – much to Pereira’s satisfaction.
‘To be honest, because we don’t have time to train the team this is very important training for us,’ Pereira said.
‘If you have only one session of training to work with intensity, we need to check if we are improving or not.
‘I don’t want to say it was a good training session because the interpretation can be bad but we need to play together and play in the way I want.
‘The FA Cup is a special competition with tradition but our priority is the league.
‘And because we don’t have time to train it is important to use games to increase our levels.
‘But I knew that if we didn’t start strong and they gained confidence it could be very difficult.’
For Robins boss Liam Manning this very much a reality check.
‘We’re aspiring to reach the Premier League and so the first 25 minutes were a really good lesson,’ Manning said. ‘Our intent was good but if you’re half a yard off, you get picked off.’
