Birmingham Senior Cup Quarter Final
Phillips 66 Community Stadium
Tuesday 12th February 2020

Brakes’ defence of the Birmingham Senior Cup ended at the Quarter Final stage as they were outplayed and outclassed by a cosmopolitan young Wolverhampton Wanderers side at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium.

Wanderers have been a club transformed since their youngsters lost on penalty kicks to Leamington in the 2016/2017 Final, having since stormed into the Premier League and also European competition, and their line up reflected this as they fielded bright young talent from all over the world.

Meanwhile Paul Holleran’s options were limited. Joe Clarke and Dexter Walters were still sidelined by injury and with Jack Storer, Josh Martin and David Bremang all cup tied there were just two changes to the side that exited the FA Trophy in heartbreaking fashion down in Essex on Saturday. With Callum Gittings rested completely and Connor Taylor dropping to the bench Kyle McFarlane made his full debut for Brakes, and Joe Parker returned to the starting eleven.

McFarlane had the first chance of the evening as he drove into the box and fired wide while the opening shot from the visiting youngsters proved to be straightforward for Jake Weaver.

Despite the visitors enjoying plenty of possession as you would expect, it was Leamington who created the early chances, Joe Parker leading a break which saw him set up Jack Edwards for a shot that keeper Andreas Sondergaard saved at his near post.

James Mace fired in a volley on the turn that he didn’t quite connect with properly, while Parker forced a fine save from Sondergaard as Edwards headed Stephan Morley’s free kick across goal to him at the far post.

The visitors were very comfortable in possession, and hit the front just past the twenty minute mark as Dongda He bagged a fine solo goal, picking up possession on the right wing before drifting past several challenges and firing a curling strike past Jake Weaver high into the net.

There were no further clear cut for either side before half time but the visiting youngsters doubled their advantage early in the second half, a Leamington attack breaking down and Wolves broke quickly, He driving the ball in low from the right for Rahael Nya to effectively seal the tie with a cheeky back heeled finish.

There were slim pickings for Leamington as they struggled to create any chances of note. Parker drove over the crossbar after a rare lapse in possession from the visitors handed possession to him just outside the box, but it was Wolves who looked more likely to add to their tally, Weaver pushing a powerful drive from Taylor Perry over his crossbar before denying Chem Campbell twice in injury time.

With the tie slipping away from Leamington, Holleran handed a senior debut to young Academy prospect Reece Rawlings, while Connor Carson also made his first appearance of the season, but Brakes slipped out of a second cup competition in four days to leave consolidating their National League North status their sole aim for the remainder of the season.

Paul Holleran’s Reaction

‘I was really impressed with them (Wolves) - they mixed their game up a little bit, they weren’t predictable. They probably hit more diags than us! They were very good, very sharp. From our point of view we had five or six players missing due to the rules, and then obviously we had 120 minutes on Saturday……..I think emotionally it took it out of us a bit, Saturday, too, but it’s done now. That’s where we are. We got deep into the Trophy which was a good experience, and I think if we’d played that game times we’d have won it nine times but it wasn’t to be. We could have done with a free week but listen, it is what it is. It’s probably not a bad thing at the moment. Sometimes, as we’ve seen in years gone by, if the fixtures fall well and you haven’t made too many changes to your squad, we’ve had some great nights in the Senior Cup, but it was probably a game too much for us tonight. Probably playing a possession based team after Saturday, on a heavy pitch as well, was difficult. You could probably see that we weren’t quite right, but we had our chances - they were clinical, especially with the first goal, but we had one or two good chances and were in the game.

‘I was absolutely devastated to go out on Saturday but I’m not too fussed about tonight if I’m honest. With where the squad is at the moment, the few injuries we’ve got we probably just need to concentrate on the last fifteen or so league games. The really tough schedule we’ve had is going to carry on until next Tuesday, another couple of tough away games, then it settles down and we’ll be going more Saturday to Saturday, we’ve got some home games coming up. We just need to try and get everybody right. We just need to sort of get back on the bus and start picking up some points.’

Attendance: 253

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Junior English, Stephan Morley, Callum Maycock (14 Reece Rawlings, 78), James Mace, Jack Lane, Kyle McFarlane (12 Connor Taylor, 65), Kieran Dunbar, Joe Parker, Jack Edwards © (16 Connor Carson, 79), Kaiman Anderson.

Subs not used: GK Josh Allen, 15 Shay Nicholson.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Andreas Sondergaard, Rahael Nya, Nigel Lonwijk, Ed Francis ©, Owen Otawosie (14 Lewis Richards, 41), Cyriaque Mayouga, Taylor Perry, Enzo Loiodice, Dongda He (17 Renal Dadoshou, 69), Hong Wan, Chem Campbell.

Subs not used: 12 Christian Marques, 15 Terry Taylor, 16 Luke Cundle.

Referee: Mr Danny Robinson

Assistant Referees: Mr William Doyle & Mr Kurt Bartlett

Brakes Man of the Match: Stephan Morley