Brentford vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. The FA Cup Third Round.
Gtech Community StadiumAttendance16,818.
Report as Doyle's strike from outside the box cancels out Neal Maupay's opener following Gomes's early red for injuring Christian Norgaard; FA Cup Fourth Round draw on Monday from 7.50pm
Saturday 6 January 2024 07:03, UK
A rocket from Tommy Doyle kept Wolves in the FA Cup despite playing with 10 players for 81 minutes at Brentford.
Wolves lost Joao Gomes to an early red card and were trailing to Neal Maupay's first-half goal when Doyle struck from 20 yards to secure a 1-1 draw and a replay.
In a niggly encounter, Gomes was given his marching orders for chopping down Bees captain Christian Norgaard.
But Wolves could easily point to a similar challenge from Mikkel Damsgaard on Doyle which went unpunished. Afterwards Wolves boss Gary O'Neil was also critical of VAR for not punishing Keane Lewis-Potter for grabbing Nelson Semedo around the neck.
"It would look bad slowed down, it's a nasty place to be kicked with the studs and I hope Norgaard is OK," said O'Neil about Gomes' sending off. "But I know Joao has not meant for it to land like that. He's a bit late. I've got no real complaints, it could have been a yellow, it could have been a red.
"But the tackle [from Mikkel Damsgaard] on Tommy Doyle was equally as bad, a straight leg on Tommy. And Lewis-Potter grabbing Semedo's throat should have been a red card.
"I can't believe VAR thought it wasn't. Now we'll miss one of our best midfielders for three games and one of our rivals get to keep two of theirs."
Brentford were looking for a measure of revenge for the 4-1 defeat they were dealt by the same opposition in the Premier League nine days earlier.
They suffered a collective defensive meltdown in that loss and the nerves were hardly settled when goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha, making only his third appearance of the season, passed the ball straight to Wolves forward Matheus Cunha.
The Brazilian managed to round Strakosha but ran into defender Mathias Jorgensen, who cleared the ball over his own crossbar.
Moments later Wolves found themselves a player light after Gomes caught Norgaard on the heel with his studs and was shown a straight red card by referee Tony Harrington.
It was a further injury blow for already-depleted Brentford with Denmark midfielder Norgaard unable to continue.
Former Wolves defender Nathan Collins, who was directly culpable for two of his old side's goals in last week's horror show, almost made amends at the right end of the pitch with a shot which curled narrowly over.
Then Bees midfielder Josh Dasilva, making his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in August, tested Wanderers keeper Jose Sa with a low, skidding drive before the hosts went ahead five minutes before half-time.
After Wolves failed to clear a Mathias Jensen free-kick, the ball ricocheted to the feet of Maupay who rifled it home from eight yards for his third goal of the season.
After the break Damsgaard's shot was well blocked by Sa and Dasilva hit the side-netting before, almost out of nowhere, Wolves equalised.
A short corner was worked by Pedro Neto to Doyle on the edge of the area, with the England U21 midfielder taking a touch before lashing the ball left-footed into the top corner.
It was Doyle's first goal for Wolves and he had a taste for more, only this time he cracked another drive straight into the face of Jensen, who had to go off after a concussion check.
Brentford could have won it late on but substitute Myles Peart-Harris side-footed wide and Sa saved Keane Lewis-Potter's header from point-blank range.
A melee at the end of the match suggested these two teams are pretty sick of the sight of each other, which could at least make for a spicy replay in just over a week.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank: "We can only blame ourselves today, there was a lack of quality all over the pitch.
"Sometimes you can't always hit a top performance. Sometimes it's not easy to play 11 against 10. It's not a miracle by Wolves, although credit to them. But especially after being 1-0 we really should win the game.
"This is the worst outcome, in every aspect. I don't understand why we have a replay.
"I simply don't understand why no one in the football world has changed this. They need to take some more clever decisions."
Wolves boss Gary O'Neil: "I'm really pleased with performance of the players. We played 90-odd minutes with 10 men, with the stoppage time at the end of each half.
"Away from home, going 1-0 down, it would have been easy for the players to let this one go. There was none of that. Everyone gave absolutely everything."
Brentford's next game is on Saturday January 20 when they host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 5.30pm. The Bees then travel to Tottenham on Wednesday January 31; kick-off 7.30pm.
Wolves' next outing is away to Brighton in the Premier League on Monday January 22; kick-off 7.45pm. Gary O'Neil's side then host Manchester United on Thursday February 1; kick-off 8.15pm.
