Matt Doherty insists Wolves will not be taking Bristol City lightly as the Premier League side travel to face Championship opposition in the FA Cup third round this weekend.
After leading the team out for the first time as captain against Nottingham Forest at Molineux on Monday evening, the Irishman is the only player in Vitor Pereira’s squad who has experience of facing the Robins in the cup having been part of the team which claimed a 1-0 win at Ashton Gate on the way to reaching the semi-final in 2019
Doherty admitted the run to the semis still leaves him with a bitter feeling with the way it ended at Wembley Stadium, so is keen for the Old Gold to go even better than they did six years ago – but cannot look any further than their trip to Bristol on Saturday.
On heading to Bristol City
“It'll be tough test. We'll expect the best of Bristol and I know from my time in the Championship and even lower, when I was in League One, if you get drawn against a Premier League team in the FA Cup, you're going to give it everything.
“It’s going to be a challenge as all the Bristol players will want to show what they have to a Premier League team – and it's away from home, so I'm sure the answer will be great. We played them a few years ago in the FA Cup and we only beat them 1-0, and we've always had tough games going there, even when we were in Championship.”
On bouncing back after Forest loss
“I'm sure the manager will obviously want to win. We had a good cup run under Nuno and got to the semi-final, and it's just exciting for everybody. You’ll see the excitement in the fans, in your own family, if you can get deeper into the competition and it just brings positivity to everyone.
“We’d love a cup run, but so would everyone else – nobody ever goes out to not win a game of football. Every fan wants their team to win the game, so this game happens to be a cup game and we just want to win it. Obviously, there's a trophy at the end of it and that's what's at stake, but I think any competition you go into, you need to take it seriously.”
On players understanding the importance of the cup
“It could be a good thing that they're not going in there with any baggage of what coming, and they can just play free and play their own game.
“Sometimes if you go into a game thinking, ‘No-one wants to come here, it’s going to be tough’, you’re over-thinking it a bit, but the boys can just go there, play their own game, play free and play how we want them to play.”
On the FA Cup still keeping its magic
“I think so. When was it ever diminished? When did it take a dip in terms of how people see it? Maybe it did when teams were making a lot of changes to their squads and they were putting out weaker teams, which is obviously a bit disrespectful, but I also see it as that's where the next best player could get their opportunity.
“That's why there’s all these competitions and that's why you have squads and you can see what your squad has. For me, it's definitely there, maybe because I've had a run in it before, and we lost that game to Watford and we should have been in that final, so I know how good that felt, my whole family being there at Wembley, so I want to feel that again.”
Tonights captain © pic.twitter.com/4UNLW5Khmm
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 6, 2025
On the 2019 semi-final defeat
“That game is still pretty bitter. We had league games for a few weeks and I just couldn't get it out of my head for a while. I remember speaking to Coads at the time and we said how hard that hit us. At that time, whenever we went ahead, we rarely lost, and I just thought how we managed to throw that way, because it was in the bag for us.
“Maybe it was in our heads and we were thinking about the final already, and we just switched off. I’m still pretty bitter about it and I know my family had an unbelievable day at Wembley – obviously, apart from the result.”
On experiencing big games at Wembley
“It is pretty good – especially when you score. I've played there with Ireland as well, so I've been fortunate enough to have the chance for both club and country, but that's what everybody's thinking once they get through the first couple rounds, everyone's thinking about being two games from Wembley, and that's just a semi-final. They're not even thinking about the final, they're just thinking about playing at Wembley.
“But every club that's still in the competition is trying to win it. We know how difficult Bristol are going to be, so there's no way we'll be overlooking them.”
