Gerard Deulofeu/Mighty Mouse
Here’s what Javi Gracia had to say after the match.
Here’s David Hytner’s match report
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Most sporting of them.
Congratulations to @WatfordFC on today's win and the very best of luck in the @EmiratesFACup final.
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 7, 2019
🤝⚽️ pic.twitter.com/CVhF5DKW8b
A reminder the final will be at Wembley on May 18. Manchester City are the “home team”.
Troy Deeney, one of Watford’s heroes, speaks.
This team has something special. It’s hard work and desire. We kept going. The little man (Deulofeu), he added magic. It was a cracking atmosphere, much better than yesterday. [On the penalty] We needed just one decent cross. I was waiting for it all day. I’ll be honest, I have hit it as hard as I could. I calmed myself down and put myself in training mood.
Full-time: Watford 3-2 Wolves
Watford are in the final for the first time in 35 years. An FA Cup classic in all the traditional sense, with Gerard Deulofeu the matchwinner. His first goal, which set off the Watford revival, was a beauty. The second was decent, if assisted by John Ruddy’s goalkeeping. Troy Deeney showed real nerve to score a penalty in the last minute of normal time.
For Wolves, who collapsed en masse at the final whistle, that was a disaster. It was within their grasp.
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120+2 min: Off go Wolves for one last push. The ball is pinged in but Vinagre and Doherty both flail in desperation before Watford ferry it up the other end. Gomes hacks clear...and that is is it....
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120+1 min: Two minutes added on. Wolves win a free-kick in their own half, and everyone is forward aside from Coady, the taker, and Ruddy. It’s cleared.
120 min: Troy Deeney escapes on the break. Instead of shooting or going for the corner, he tries to play a pass. That could have been a turning point but Wolves are probably too tired to capitalise.
118 min: Traore beats his man, but his cross wafts behind the goal. That is a frightful waste. Wolves have that sinking feeling....but here’s Cavaleiro, who goes beyond Gomes and for a moment, the goal is begging. But...no. It is cleared.
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116 min: This half of extra-time has not really happened. Plenty of breaks in play and tired legs across the board. Wolves, though, will get another chance. Is this it? No, Jimenez’s touch failed him just as the ball was pinged into him at the edge of the six-yard box.
115 min: The regulation shots of fans biting their nails and looking on in agony have been shown on the TV pictures. From both teams, that is.
114 min: Wolves are not giving up, as you would expect. Traore opens up the afterburners but his cross is poor. His game in microcosm?
113 min: Deulofeu goes off, having been the hero and matchwinner off the bench, and on comes Sema.
112 min: Deulofeu concedes a corner and then falls to the ground in a delayed fashion. He calls for treatment, but ref Michael Oliver asks him to get up. Nobody was fooled there. Gomes, chaotically but effectively, manages to clear the danger of Wolves’ corner. Deulofeu looks to have hurt his ankle.
109 min: Traore goes on one of his runs, but he is stopped in his tracks. Watford pass it around with a touch of the olés. That seems a bit previous.
108 min: Watford change: Janmaat on for Femenia.
107 min: Watford escape through Deulofeu and Gray, who have together been a total thorn in Wolves’ side. Wolves are able to close that down, but the threat on the counyer is implicit.
106 min: Nuno’s speech to his players looked hugely inspiring. He has made a change - four changes allowed these days once ET is reached - on come Ruben Vinagre for Jonny.
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That’s half-time in extra time.
105+2 min: Jimenez tries to get away down the left but then seems to run out of energy.
105+1 min: Poor Wolves. They have been ravaged by one of the great Wembley comebacks and Deulofeu has been the architect of their downfall.
Goal! Watford 3-2 Wolves (Deulofeu, 105)
Deulofeu escapes, and bursts down the wing. Deeney to Gray, and then to the Catalan, who bursts past Coady and finishes calmly. Ruddy, sadly, could have done better. Though it was hit early.
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104 min: The plan, it seems, is to give the ball to Traore. Thing is, Mesina, his opposite number is just as fresh as he is, having only just come on for Holebas.
102 min: Capoue is booked for a foul on Dendoncker that stopped Wolves getting away. Moutinho goes off, and on comes Adama Traore for Wolves.
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100 min: Long throw and then an even longer shot by Doucoure. It is blocked but Watford looking to pick the momentum of the last 15 minutes.
99 min: Nope, Holebas cannot continue. On comes Adam Masina. Like for like. If you like.
97 min: Holebas hobbles off, and want to come back on. Looks like it was cramp. He has managed to take the heat out of Wolves, though, by going down injured.
96 min: Gomes punches a corner clear. Wolves continue to put the pressure on. Ivan Cavaleiro fizzes down the wing and Watford struggle to clear the ball. Holebas goes down with what looks like cramp but may be a hamstring problem.
94 min: Doherty and Jimenez link up, and Jonny’s shot is saved - just about - by Gomes.
92 min: The game restarts with some relative calm. Wolves shellshocked, and Nuno had to earn his corn during the break. They are beginning extra time with the ball, which is a good sign. Watford are entitled to be tired.
Right, we are back.
Full-time: Watford 2-2 Wolves
What a game, what a crescendo but what awaits us now?
95 min: Wow. Wolves’ nerve failed them just as it was in their grasp. Deeney played Dendoncker there, and his penalty was superb in the circumstances.
Watford 2-2 Wolves (Deeney, 90+4)
Up steps Deeney for the biggest kick of his career...and smashes it home. That’s extra time.
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Penalty to Watford!
Deeney gives Dendoncker the slip in the area and goes down. There is a VAR look but it looked plum...and it was.
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90+1 min: Deeney gives away another foul. That eats into time Watford cannot afford.
90 min: Into the last minute of normal time. Ivan Cavaleiro has just replaced Jota. Deeney is now booked for clattering Dendoncker as four minutes of added time are announced.
88 min: Chance for Holebas goes begging! Deulofeu’s width had opened up Wolves and the ball came across for Holebas to shoot. He probably had too long, and could not stop it heading for the concessions at the back of the stand.
87 min: This has been brilliant entertainment. John Ruddy, looking unsteady but showing bravery, comes out to flap and then claim a cross. There is relief all round for Wolves when he has it in his hands.
86 min: Neves goes off, and Ryan Bennett comes on to bolster defence
Here’s that Deulofeu goal. Exquisite.
🏌 | Cheeky chip from @gerardeulofeu pulls one back for @WatfordFC!#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/pHDrfZKhlk
— The Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 7, 2019
85 min: Wolves try to slow things down after temporarily riding out a break. Doherty, again, slips up just at the time when he might have had a shot. He could have had three for Wolves today.
83 min: A Watford corner is knocked behind, and another one will come. The ball is only half-cleared. Watford throwing everything forward, as Holebas forces a third corner. Wolves might eye a breakaway but they cannot get the ball clear.
81 min: By the way, here is Jimenez’s goal. It probably seems a long time ago if you are a Wolves fan. There were 80, 092 fans at the game today, by the way.
Our number nine...
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 7, 2019
🐺9️⃣pic.twitter.com/Ye9KujtOqI
80 min: Well well, that decision to leave out Deulofeu looks ever more a folly. That was a brilliant goal. Wonderful technique.
Goal! Watford 1-2 Wolves (Deulofeu, 79)
Holebas launches a long throw, and Deeney is the target. The ball drops to Deulofeu, who pivots and then drifts the ball into the net, dropping like a golf fade into the net.
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77 min: Doucoure tries a shot, but Neves gets in the way. Watford now piling forward, and their fans are urging them on.
76 min: Matt Doherty might have got another for Wolves but his touch let him down after a fine Neves pass. Watford go long at the other end, looking for the second ball, and eventually Boly gets the ball clear.
74 min: Gray and Deulofeu conspire to lose the ball, and off goes Jota again, making up heavy ground, and eating up time, to continue what has been a superb afternoon.
72 min: Back to the football. Watford look to have lost heart here, and their designs on making more use of the flanks is not coming to anything. And the Wolves fans are filling the air with West Midlands accents.
70 min: The PA system now rattles on about a VAT decision on a raised foot. Again, it sounds like a railway station announcement system that has gone wrong. Is this helping?
68 min: Wolves fans in the fullest of voices. And why wouldn’t you be with a first FA Cup since 1960 beckoning...seems to have been some VAR action after a clash between Deulofeu and Moutinho. The crowd got to hear there will be no red card from the PA system, but nobody seems to know what was going on in any case. Or why there might be a red card. VAR - it’s not complete, is it? Nothing beyond reasonable doubt there.
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66 min: Watford in deep trouble and on comes Deulofeu, who replaces Will Hughes, who had faded. The selection of Gray over Deulofeu is beginning to look like a mistake from Javi Gracia. And particularly considering those misses.
64 min: That chest and volley was redolent of a Mark Hughes. Real brute strength married to skill. By the way, it was Femenia’s heel that played Jimenez onside.
Goal! Watford 0-2 Wolves (Jimenez, 63)
Wolves are on their way (back) to Wembley. Doherty’s chip comes into the box, and Jimenez chests the ball down and smashes home...oh, here comes VAR for offside...but no. The goal stands.
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61 min: Brilliant from Jota again, as he weaves through the Watford defence before Holebas brings him down. The run comes to an end at the halfway line. Nuno on the sidelines is not amused.
60 min: “Shoooot,” bellow the Wolves fans but Neves cannot keep his long-ranger on target.
59 min: Watford are pushing back on again, but are a little one-dimensional. Deeney is a danger, but there needs to be more variation to get the better of a well organised opponent.
57 min: Watford win a free-kick, and pile the big men forward. It is Deeney who climbs highest, perhaps too high as he heads it when heading the way down.
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56 min: Neves’s free-kick, from the left-hand side of the box, is whipped and swerved just past the back post. Gomes was nowhere near it and could only watch it sail by. Wolves have had the chances to put this one to bed.
54 min: Troy Deeney, ever dangerous, has a sniff of a chance, but his shot is wide and weak. At the other end, Jota is fouled by Cathcart, who takes a yellow card. Jota has been outstanding.
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53 min: Ian Copestake emails in, having clearly watched a similar TV broadcast: “I can’t believe i know more about football/the real world than Glenn Hoddle, but he has no recollection of the Sherpa Van Trophy!”
Glenn’s situation in 1988 was in Monaco, at the end of the day. In 1987, when he left Tottenham, it was called the Leyland DAF.
51 min: Close! Jota, again, shows great skill and invention but Jimenez cannot quite wrap himself around the ball. That could have sealed it.
50 min: Hughes looks to find an opening but runs straight into Saiss. Watford have taken up the mantle again, but Wolves are holding them at bay.
48 min: Wolves striker Jimenez forces a save from Gomes, bringing the ball down from Saiss’ pass and cutting inside to fire a shot. Gomes saves down low.
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46 min: And away we go. Wolves look to be sitting back a little from the early, very early signs. Nuno, who learned at the feet of José Mourinho, is not one for going for broke.
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Ok, we are due to get back underway any moment soon...the central areas of the stands empty, as they always are at Wembley.
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Peter Oh continues to bring the banter: “It’s a good thing Elton John is not in the house, because in the unlikely event that Wolves’ Moroccan international defender scores a decisive goal, I have a “Saiss on song says so much” email queued up. Fingers crossed!”
Here’s the moment of truth so far
An incredible moment as @mattdoherty20 gives Wolves a first half lead at Wembley.
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 7, 2019
💛🐺pic.twitter.com/tnG8PFiMO9
Half-time: Watford 0-1 Wolves
The two minutes of added time are at an end. Matt Doherty’s goal came against the run of play, but Wolves might have added to it once it was scored. Andre Gray will surely spend half-time rueing two chances, the first hit wide, the second not hit with enough purchase to get past Conor Coady.
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45+1 min: What a block! Deeney’s flick finds Gray, and he seems to have a golden chance but as he pulls the trigger, across comes Conor Coady. Heroic stuff from the Wolves captain, but again Gray had to do better.
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45 min: Will Hughes, who has been excellent, looks Watford’s best chance of something. On the opposite flank, Femenia shows his frustration.
44 min: Watford need to see this one out until half-time, perhaps but go chasing an equaliser. Gray, who missed that pearling chance, is run out on the touchline. The goal has banjaxed the rhythm they had found for the first 37 minutes.
41 min: If individual skill was going to be key, then it is Diogo Jota who has made the difference with the key pass for the goal, after creating space for himself to do so, and then on the slalom run that followed. Jimenez meanwhile, has a run at goal before being crowded out. Wolves are brimming with confidence.
39 min: Wolves in the ascendancy now. Jota breaks at great pace, checks and fires just wide. There will have been a few fans who thought that had gone in. Danger for Watford.
Goal! Watford 0-1 Wolves (Doherty, 37)
It came against the run of play, as Jonny chips the ball to the back post, and Doherty stoops to head in. It came from a short corner and Doherty, on the opposite flank to his usual, came in on the back post.
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35 min: Wolves force a fine save from Gomes. Jonny cuts in from the flank, shimmies past a couple of plays and lays it to Dendoncker, who rasps a shot on goal.
34 min: Peter Oh emails in: “That centre circle in the preamble photo of the Wolves chalkboard is disproportionately small. Ultra-compact midfield?”
Stan Cullis favoured a long-ball approach.
33 min: Watford need to capitalise here. They have been far the better team. Their flexible play is making life difficult for Wolves.
31 min: Close! Deeney takes down a long ball, and expertly flicks it to Gray. The ball comes back out, and Deeney’s cross is excellent. Gray’s foot is raised and he can’t keep the shot down. He had to do better.
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28 min: Boly gives a free-kick away. Wolves are mounting up the fouls. Watford are in the ascendancy here, if yet to create a full and proper chance.
26 min: The word is that Elton John is not at Wembley, and is concentrating on rehearsals for what will be his final world tour. Insert Reg Dwight pun here.
25 min: Neves is booked for a foul on Pereyra that he had to make, and Wolves have a free-kick close to the byline. The kick is dinked to Will Hughes, on his left foot, and all that he can hit is fresh air. The jeers are deserved, as that was a waste. Another player looking nervous.
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23 min: Deeney turns on a sixpence, and pings a ball out wide...but nobody there. Watford are staying narrow, in a midfield diamond.
22 min: Jeers as Pereyra fails to keep the ball in. A few players struggling for touch. This is already getting nervy.
20 min: Jonny sweeps up the danger when Will Hughes was threatening to create something. Wolves are sat deep, not pushing forward unless the opportunity arises.
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17 min: Long ball from Doucoure fails to find the head of Deeney. Both Watford’s strikers have been quiet. At the other end, Doucoure fouls Jimenez, and Wolves have chance to pump a free-kick into the 18-yard box. The kick evades everyone and the ball is cleared to cheers from Watford fans.
15 min: These teams are well matched against each other. That suggests an individual piece of skill is required to open this up. Plenty of players capable of that here, but midfield is already looking an attritional affair. Both teams playing two up front, mind.
13 min: An Alain Supermarche tweets in: “Will they be presenting the runners up medals at the end of the game?
Most droll, Alain.
12 min: A period of calm? Wolves been a little quiet in the last few minutes, with Watford looking to have the measure of the game after a couple of early scares. Wolves yet to get their full-backs, so important to their strategy, into the game.
10 min: A yellow card for Wolves’ Saiss, who scythed down Pereyra, and with a high challenge. Saiss ended up damaging his own mouth in getting carried away. He is forced to change his shirt due to the blood.
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8 min: Capoue and Femenia both have shots blocked. Watford are a powerful side, and have the muscle to make Wolves do some serious defending.
7 min: Chances at both ends. Both teams going for it, fans living on their nerves...ah, the FA Cup, and just as we like it. It’s been a hugely promising start.
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5 min: Jota is fouled by Mariappa and this is a free-kick chance for Wolves. Moutinho is the man to take it and he drifts it over the wall, but cannot get the right fade on it.
4 min: Watford have a corner, and John Ruddy climbs highest to palm away. He is playing as Wolves’ designated FA Cup goalkeeper.
2 min: Wolves have settled well, and take their time getting used to possession. Now, how long can Wembley retain its atmosphere? The place has a habit of going flat even among the most enthusiastic fans.
Kick-off!
Really noisy as Wolves get us underway to the tune of Sloop John B, and Jonny starts it all off with a fizzing shot which drips over the bar. It was inches away.
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Heurelho Gomes in goal for Watford: what could possibly go wrong? He is set to retire this summer to become a pastor.
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Ok, here we go. A hugely colourful occasion at Wembley and it sounds a little bit louder than yesterday’s semi-final. This is a sell-out. They enter the field to the noise of the Prodigy’s Breathe and then that Oasis instrumental with the rude title.
Wolves will play in white, and Watford in yellow.
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The changes in the teams are as follows. From the Press Association.
Heurelho Gomes replaced Ben Foster in goal for Watford for their FA Cup semi-final with Wolves, while striker Andre Gray came in against his hometown club in place of Gerard Deulofeu. Romain Saiss replaced Ryan Bennett in defence as Wolves reverted to the team which beat Manchester United in the quarter-final last month. John Ruddy and Jonny also returned following the 2-1 Premier League win over United in the week.
Wolves’ last visit to Wembley in a game not including their December visit to play Spurs was on May 29, 1988, when they beat Burnley 2-0 to win the Sherpa Van Trophy final (the Checkatrade in new money), in front of an 80,841-strong crowd. Andy Mutch and Robbie Dennison got the goals.
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Some stats, courtesy of BT.
- Watford will play their seventh FA Cup semi-final, only managing to progress on one previous occasion – a 1-0 victory over Plymouth back during the 1983-84 campaign. Indeed, of sides to appear in at last five FA Cup semi-finals, Watford have the joint-lowest progression rate alongside Fulham (1/6 – 17%).
- Wolves have won their last six games at Wembley Stadium – only Arsenal (7 between May 2014 and May 2017) and Tottenham (7 between January-March 2018) have won more consecutively at the ground.
Simon Burnton on Watford’s rise this season.
Stuart James on how this is just the beginning for the Wolves project.
Those teams in analogue fashion now.
Watford: Gomes, Femenia, Mariappa, Cathcart, Holebas, Doucoure, Capoue, Hughes, Pereyra, Deeney, Gray.
Subs: Janmaat, Deulofeu, Masina, Sema, Quina, Foster, Kabasele.
Wolverhampton: John Ruddy, Saiss, Coady, Boly, Doherty, Dendoncker, Joao Moutinho, Neves, Jonny, Jimenez, Jota.
Subs: Bennett, Ivan Cavaleiro, Helder Costa, Gibbs-White, Ruben Vinagre, Norris, Traore.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Here are the teams.
🚨 SEMI-FINAL TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) April 7, 2019
2⃣ changes from our last line-up.
➡ Gomes, Gray
⬅ Foster, Deulofeu
Thoughts⁉ pic.twitter.com/yo92k4F0vg
And for Wolves.
Here's how Wolves line-up for this afternoon's @EmiratesFACup semi final clash against @WatfordFC. #WATWOL
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 7, 2019
📋🐺 pic.twitter.com/eiOIfoVdIr
Preamble
The last time Wolves were in an FA Cup semi-final was 1998, when Christopher Wreh - remember him? - was the difference for a Double-hunting Arsenal. The last time Watford were in an FA Cup semi-final was in 2016, when they lost out to Crystal Palace and their fans got annoyed with Wilfried Zaha’s theatrics.
But really, thinking of both teams and the FA Cup, and one is cast back to very different times. Watford in the FA Cup? It is difficult not to think of Elton John’s straw boater in 1984, and the sad songs that said so much, after Steve Sherwood fumbled and Everton ran out winners.
And Wolves and the FA Cup conjures images of the post-war era: Billy Wright as winner in 1949 long before he married a Beverley Sister, and then 1960, beating Blackburn Rovers 3-0 on the day that Rovers’ Dave Whelan broke his leg, and set on his way to becoming a shell-suit magnate. Wolves that day featured prosaic names like Eddie Clamp, Barry Stobart, Norman Deeley and George Showell. The mastermind that day, as it had been in 1949, was Stan Cullis, one of the greats of English football management, though something of a forgotten name these days to all but those in Wolverhampton old gold.
Times move on, and today’s teams are managed by a sharp-suited Spaniard in Javi Gracia for Watford and a Portuguese hipster in Wolves’ Nuno Espirito Santo. This looks an evenly matched contest, between two teams with heavy claims to be the best of the rest in the Premier League. They have only met once this season, back in October, where Watford won 2-0 at Molineux, and with something in hand. The suggestion is Wolves, twice conquerors of Manchester United, and who have taken points off all of the Big Six, bar Liverpool, who they beat in the FA Cup, are better against the big teams than their peers.
Wembley awaits, and it will be tinged with yellow and gold.
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