LONDON – Coventry City scored twice deep into stoppage time to stun Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 at Molineux on March 16 and reach the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time since they won the competition in 1987.
The Championship side looked to have blown their chance to reach Wembley when Wolves themselves scored twice in the final seven minutes of regulation time.
However, Ellis Simms’ second goal of the match levelled proceedings in the 97th minute before he teed up Haji Wright to fire into the corner three minutes later.
Simms told ITV: “I’m so proud of the lads, we’ve dug in and, even at 2-1 down, we never gave up.
“It’s going to be a great occasion at Wembley. We want to go all the way. The next round will be tough against a top Premier League team but we will give it our all and go in with all guns blazing.”
Wright added: “There’s a lot of quality in our side and, as long as we believe and keep trying, we can take our chances. It’s amazing to make it to Wembley and it will be good fun for all of us...
“Both me and Ellis didn’t have amazing starts here but he (manager Mark Robins) believed in us and now we are in a spot where we can show ourselves.”
The home side were without all of Gary O’Neil’s preferred front three of Pedro Neto, Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha due to injury.
And it was Coventry who created the vast majority of the chances.
Simms had missed an incredible opportunity in the first half when he miscued with the goal gaping.
But the former Everton striker has now scored 10 goals in his last eight games after his controversial opener stood.
The ball rebounded off Simms from Liam Kitching’s header across goal eight minutes into the second half and was allowed to stand despite a check for handball against the Coventry frontman.
Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa then crucially kept his side in the tie with a string of vital saves.
It looked like the Sky Blues would be made to regret those missed chances, when Rayan Ait-Nouri pounced on an error from Joel Latibeaudiere to smash home the equaliser.
Ait-Nouri then set up fellow defender Hugo Bueno to fire into the bottom corner for his first senior goal.
Yet, the drama did not end there as Bobby Thomas’ flick on found Simms unmarked to bullet in a header.
Just as both sides were preparing for an extra 30 minutes, Coventry struck in the 10th minute of added time to snatch victory.
Simms again played a big part as he picked out Wright at the edge of the box and the American international curled an unstoppable effort into the far corner.
A founder member of the English Premier League, Coventry sank to the fourth tier of English football as recently as the 2017-18 season.
But they have achieved two promotions under Robins and narrowly missed out on a return to the Premier League last season, losing the Championship play-off final to Luton Town on penalties.
Former Manchester United player Robins told ITV: “It means a lot to everybody... The new owners have wanted a Cup run, they’ve got a cup run.
“And also, we need to try and get into the play-offs three out of five years.” AFP
