A blockbuster second-half, including three goals and two red cards, helped Wolves under-23 to their first win of their Premier League 2 Division 1 campaign.
Mertian Shabani’s first goal in gold and black and a brilliant curling effort from Taylor Perry in the 90th minute secured the three points against a Blackburn Rovers side which ended the game with nine men following Matty Platt and Charley Doyle being sent off.
Rob Edwards made just a single change from the side which drew 0-0 with Everton on Sunday afternoon, with Lewis Richards coming in for Dion Sanderson who is suffering with an illness.
An entertaining first-half saw chances at both ends for Wolves and Blackburn, with Benny Ashley-Seal coming closest after just eight minutes when he fired a shot wide after finding space on the edge of the area.
John Kitolano was next to have an effort, but his wild shot didn’t trouble Joe Hilton in the Blackburn net, before Shabani put a snapshot just wide of the left upright when he drifted into space in the centre of the box when picked out by Oskar Buur.
Andreas Sondergaard in the Wolves net made a comfortable save to deny a Joe Grayson free-kick from long-range, but the home side had their best opportunity to open the scoring when Lewis Thompson made a driving run through the heart of the Wolves defence before aiming towards the far post, but his cross-come-shot flew narrowly wide.
Wolves took the lead shortly into the second-half when Shabani was quickest to a Kitolano cross and was able to lift the ball over the onrushing Hilton.
But just moments later, the home side equalised through Harry Chapman. The striker, unmarked in the Wolves penalty area, diverted a Doyle whipped in cross beyond the outstretched arms of Sondergaard and into the bottom corner of the net.
Blackburn went down to ten men when Platt was shown a red for a very hard challenge on Kitolano which left the Wolves wing-back in a slump on the floor. Less than ten minutes later and the hosts were handed another red card.
Doyle, who was already on a yellow card after a heavy tackle in the first-half on Perry, tried to stop Kitolano from taking a quick throw-in and referee David Richardson went to his pocked.
With the game solely played in the Blackburn half for the last 20 minutes, Wolves finally got the goal they needed to seal the three points as the clock struck 90 minutes when Perry curled a delightful right-footed effort into the top corner to give Hilton no chance.
In a bad-tempered end to the game, it was the visitors who were able to see out the game and take their first victory since promotion to Division 1.
COMING UP
The under-23s return to Telford’s New Bucks Head on Friday night for their second home tie of the 2019/20 campaign by hosting Leicester City from 7pm.
NEXT FIVE
30/08 Leicester City (H)
14/09 Manchester City (A)
20/09 Arsenal (H)
24/09 Carlisle United (A) LCT
27/09 Southampton (H)
TEAMS
Blackburn: Hilton, Doyle, Thompson, White, Platt, Grayson, Mols, Lyons, Samuel (Brennan 46) (Barnes 67), Chapman (Annesley 82), Hart.
Unused subs: Eastham, Jackson.
Wolves: Sondergaard, Buur (Thompson 79), Nya (Flavio 57), Francis, Richards, Kitolano, Watt, Perry, Jordao (Diallo 46), Shabani, Ashley-Seal.
Unused subs: Tsun Dai, Samuels.
