Wolves 2 (Guedes 38 & 54) Burnley 0
A Goncalo Guedes brace sent Wolves safety though in the Carabao Cup, with the Portuguese scoring in both halves against Burnley at Molineux.
In a game the hosts controlled throughout, they found the breakthrough when Craig Dawson sent Pedro Lima scampering down the right and the debutant’s cross was turned home at the back post by Guedes.
A goal early in the second half then killed any Clarets hopes as Daniel Podence sent Guedes clean through, and he chose the perfect moment to dink over Vaclav Hladky and secure a first win of the campaign for Gary O’Neil’s side.
Changes were the order of the day for O’Neil, who made ten from Sunday’s loss to Chelsea, giving fresh opportunities to his squad. Two of those members, Lima – making his Wolves debut – and Guedes linked up early on, which was a sign of things to come, but neither of the latter’s efforts could evade Burnley blocks on that occasion.
Boubacar Traore was also playing for the first time this season and turned over a Pablo Sarabia free-kick on 13 minutes. Wolves were getting closer and when Sarabia split open the Burnley defence with an incisive pass, Guedes teed up Podence to sing the palms of Hladky, who did brilliantly to spring back to his feet and turn Lima’s rebound on to the post.
The one survivor from Sunday – Rayan Ait-Nouri – then took matters into his own hands, gliding with the ball from halfway, right into the Burnley box, before seeing his right footed effort turned over by Hladky.
Wolves had dominated the first half, so when Dawson clipped an inch-perfect ball through the channel for Lima, a deserved opening goal was on the cards. The Brazilian showed his pace to get down the right and whip in a testing delivery, which evaded the onrushing Hladky in the middle but found Guedes at the back post, and he simply had to turn into an open goal.
Half-time | Wolves 1-0 Burnley
While Guedes’ first goal for the club since January 2023 was one of simplicity, his second required a little more class. Podence’s outside of the foot pass cut through Burnley and had Joe Worrall in a race with the Portuguese he was never going to win, before Guedes sized up the goalkeeper and dinked an exquisite finish home.
That two-goal buffer allowed Wolves to enjoy the second period and O’Neil to give more minutes into his squad, and one player fresh from the bench in Toti should have made it three, but he headed Tommy Doyle’s corner over from close range.
The Clarets offered little in the way of threat and Dan Bentley comfortably watched Connor Roberts curl wide from distance with 15 remaining.
Instead, Wolves remained the hungrier in the closing stages and when Podence turned past Will Hugill on to his left foot, his chip needed turning away from danger by Hladky.
That was the start of a late flurry of openings, with the Old Gold putting in a series of late crosses into the box, but with nobody on the end of them, that final chance evaded them, but Wolves were still safely through.
Full-time | Wolves 2-0 Burnley
Wolves | Bentley, Lima, Dawson (Toti 62), Bueno, Ait-Nouri (Doherty 62), Traore (Lemina 45+1), Doyle, Podence, Sarabia (Hwang 62), Chiquinho, Guedes (Bellegarde 75).
Unused subs | King, Strand Larsen, R Gomes, Rawlings.
Burnley | Hladky, Sambo, Worrall (Hugill 79), Egan-Riley (Pires 45), Brownhill (Roberts 45), Rodriguez (Foster 57), Humphreys, Mejbri (McDermott 45), McNally, Hountondij, Massengo.
Unused subs | Green, Esteve, Westley, Masara.
