Matt Doherty’s late equaliser spares Wolves’ blushes and denies Shrewsbury famous FA Cup victory
Shrewsbury Town 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers: A late goal denied the home side a famous win
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Your support makes all the difference.Matt Doherty’s stoppage-time equaliser spared Wolves’ blushes and denied League One Shrewsbury a famous FA Cup victory.
Wolves looked set to be victims of a momentous upset when Greg Docherty and Luke Waterfall scored on 47 and 71 minutes to put Sam Ricketts’ side into a 2-0 lead.
The goal from Waterfall, a veteran of Lincoln’s run to the quarter-finals two seasons ago, looked to have killed off Wolves hope after a fine strike from Rangers loanee Docherty opened the scoring.
But substitute Raul Jimenez gave Wolves a lifeline with a close-range finish before Doherty broke Shrewsbury’s hearts with a header.
An early break by Wolves saw Matt Doherty cut in from the right and curl a left-footed shot narrowly off target. But there was promise, too, for the Shrews as they won a free-kick on the right, which was delivered to the near post by Ryan Haynes but headed wide by Mat Sadler.
A quick Wolves counter-attack on 13 minutes saw Adama Traore release strike partner Helder Costa but Sadler applied enough pressure to force a heavy touch from the forward, ending with a goal-kick to the hosts.
A clever spin by Morgan Gibbs-White in the 17th minute gave Wolves another chance to break the deadlock but his shot curls off target beyond the far post.
Despite a sluggish opening spell, Wolves threatened again when Doherty weaved his way from the right flank into the penalty area and squared for Traore.
The hosts had Greg Docherty and James Bolton to thank for sliding challenges that unsettled Traore sufficiently that he sliced his shot over the crossbar.
Costa darted in from the right and fired a cross-shot straight at goalkeeper Steve Arnold as Wolves probed without managing to unpick the home defence.
That encouraged Shrewsbury, who sensed a shift in momentum five minutes before half-time when Greg Docherty strode forwards from midfield and let fly with a shot that curled in the air.
Wolves goalkeeper John Ruddy could only parry it awkwardly but Conor Coady was on hand to clear the rebound.
Docherty dragged another shot wide in first-half stoppage time as the hosts ended the opening period with their tails up.
Just two minutes into the second half the pre-interval promise was realised as Docherty blasted the home side into the lead.
Gibbs-White was guilty of an errant pass that was collected by Fejiri Okenabirhie, who powered through midfield and fed Docherty out wide.
The midfielder drove towards goal before unleashing a 20-yard shotthat flew past Ruddy and into the top corner.
The lead should have lasted just seven minutes but a brilliant save by Arnold from a poor Costa header denied Wolves a quick equaliser.
The goalkeeper reacted superbly to block Costa’s effort after he rose unmarked to meet a Doherty cross.
Substitute Jimenez almost made an instant impact for Wolves when he went close with his first touch.
He arrived to meet a cross by young wing-back Ryan Giles but screwed his effort wide.
Wolves went close again with an overhead kick from Jimenez, but with 22 minutes remaining the hosts could sense a famous occasion.The possible became probable on 71 minutes as the hosts forced a corner which was delivered by Ollie Norburn and headed home powerfully by Waterfall.
But just four minutes later there was fresh hope for Wolves when a Traore corner found its way to Jimenez, who converted from close range.
And Shrewsbury’s hearts were broken in stoppage time as Doherty headed home a Traore cross for the equaliser.
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