Brighton edged past Wolves with a 3-2 victory to seal their spot in round four of the Carabao Cup.
Brighton eased into a two-goal lead thanks to long-range strikes from Carlos Baleba (14) and Simon Adingra (31) with Wolves showing little to nothing for the majority of the first half.
However, Gary O’Neil’s side grabbed a lifeline just before the break as Goncalo Guedes (44) converted Matt Doherty’s cut back to halve the deficit.
After the break, Wolves were much the better side for long periods. The visitors, with renewed energy, went close to an equaliser when Nelson Semedo’s cross was touched onto Adam Webster by Jason Steele, and the ball rolled agonisingly towards goal. However, Josh Hinshelwood appeared out of nowhere to clear the ball off the line.
Another big chance fell to Guedes but with just Steele to beat, the forward fired wide as Wolves failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
They were made to pay when Brighton restored their two-goal advantage late on. Ferdi Kadioglu pounced after Danny Welbeck’s shot was saved to convert the rebound for his first goal for the club.
However, there was still time for another goal as Tommy Doyle capitalised on some poor defending from the hosts to fire in a shot off the underside of the crossbar.
It proved only to be a consolation as Brighton held on to book their place in the draw for round four, which takes place next Wednesday (September 25).
More to follow…
