Wolves 3 (Cunha 18, R G Gomes 72 & 77) West Ham 1 (Kudus 44)
Rodrigo Gomes scored twice off the bench to fire Wolves to victory in the inaugural Stateside Cup tie in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday evening.
The delayed contest went ahead despite tropical storms pre-match, and Gary O’Neil will be glad that it did, after his team put in an impressive showing, which began with a sweeping first half finish from Matheus Cunha.
Mohammed Kudus levelled for the Hammers before the break, but the introduction of Gomes changed the game. The Portuguese turned home impressively to restore his side’s lead, before heading home a fine Pedro Lima cross to continue a positive US tour so far with a strong performance and result.
Torrential rain and thunderstorms greeted the Old Gold and the Hammers to the EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, providing a difficult start to proceedings for both sides. Despite a false start of a warm-up and more than two hours in delay, the inaugural Stateside Cup tie went ahead at 9.05pm local time.
The pitch was heavy, but playable, and Wolves drew blood first with the opening goal from their first attempt. Pablo Sarabia slid in to intercept a poor West Ham pass and Jorgen Strand Larsen kicked into gear, squaring for Cunha to sweep home first time to open the scoring.
Frustrating that would be Cunha’s only telling impact on the match, as he departed early due to injury, being replaced by Hee Chan Hwang. Moments later Lukasz Fabianski spilled Sarabia’s effort from distance, but Strand Larsen couldn’t squeeze the loose ball over the line.
Wolves couldn’t hold their lead until the break however, after Kudus faced up Rayan Ait-Nouri, edged right and fired an effort in between Dan Bentley and his near post one minutes before half-time.
Half-time | Wolves 1-1 West Ham
Wolves started the second half the better and Toti’s quick feet created an opening seconds before his departure, but the Portuguese slammed into the side netting. Then came the changes, and nine of them, with all outfield players, aside from Hwang, who’d come on earlier, being replaced for fresh legs.
One of those new arrivals, Tawanda Chirewa, was instantly involved, finding space on the edge of the Hammers box and watching his curling right footed strike turned around the post by Fabianski.
However, there was nothing the goalkeeper could do about Wolves’ second goal. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde set the tempo, winning possession and driving forward, and although Goncalo Guedes couldn’t get his shot away, Gomes was able to turn the loose ball past Fabianski.
The Portuguese was having some evening and within five minutes had doubled his tally. Fellow new boy Lima was the architect, flying down the right and whipping an inch-perfect cross for Gomes, who bravely evaded a flying boot and planted home a header at the back post for 3-1.
The wide man could have even had his hat-trick, but his effort was blocked, following good work by Guedes. Chirewa also fired an effort over, but Wolves finished the stronger to see out the win and a positive evening.
Full-time | Wolves 3-1 West Ham
Wolves | Bentley, Doherty (Lima 63), Mosquera (Dawson 63), Toti (S Bueno 73), Ait-Nouri (H Bueno 63), Lemina (Bellegarde 63), Cundle (Doyle 63), Sarabia (Guedes 63), Chiquinho (R Gomes 63), Cunha (Hwang 30)(Rawlings 78), Strand Larsen (Chirewa 63).
West Ham | Fabianski (Foderingham 64), Coufal (Kodua 45)(Casey 81), Aguerd (Earthy 76), Mavropanos (Zouma 45), Cresswell (Kilman 45), Soucek (Orford 45), Ward-Prowse (Irving 64), Potts (Emerson 45), Kudus (Marshall 64), Ings (Guilherme 45), Cornet (Antonio 64).
