Matt Doherty marked his second Wolves debut with two goals and Nathan Fraser scored on his first senior appearance as they brushed aside League One Blackpool 5-0 to reach the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Sasa Kalajdzic doubled his Wolves tally days after getting off the mark at Everton and Fabio Silva capped a fine display with his first goal for the club since May 2021 before the popular Doherty, back at the ground where he spent a decade before leaving in 2020, scored two in seven minutes.
Substitute Fraser had set up the second of Doherty’s goals and the 18-year-old then got in on the scoring himself, beating goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell with a deflected effort late on.
With Matheus Nunes trying to force through a move to Manchester City, Goncalo Guedes heading back to Benfica on loan and Daniel Podence seemingly on his way out, Wolves need reinforcements in the final days of the transfer window but there were positive signs at Molineux.
Blackpool, without a goal in four matches since beating Derby 2-0 in the last round and deprived of cup-tied striker Jordan Rhodes and the injured Shayne Lavery, twice struck the frame of the goal but were comfortably second best.
Gary O’Neil made nine changes from Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League win at Everton, even including 15-year-old Emilio Ballard-Matthews among the substitutes, and will have been pleased with the attacking intent of those afforded an opportunity.
Kalajdzic, whose first season at Molineux was ruined by a torn ligament suffered on his debut, opened his Wolves account in the 87th minute at Goodison Park and needed only 10 minutes of this match to double it, bouncing a shot in after Pablo Sarabia’s effort was charged down by O’Donnell.
Wolves were then guilty of complacency against goal-shy Blackpool, loose in possession at the back and almost punished as Kenny Dougall saw a shot from 20 yards come back off the inside of the post.
But Silva settled nerves in the 25th minute as Sarabia ran forward from midfield and slipped the ball through for the 21-year-old to beat O’Donnell with a powerful finish.
After his last strike against West Brom in May 2021, Silva went a full season without a Wolves goal and then spent time on loan with Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven, but O’Neil will hope his positive display here is a sign the former club-record signing, still only 21, is settling in at last.
There was a blow early in the second half for the hosts when 20-year-old Joe Hodge, making his first appearance of the season, pulled up clutching his hamstring when breaking into the box, with 19-year-old Harvey Griffiths handed a debut as his replacement.
The third goal came on the hour, with Sarabia again involved as he latched on to a deflected ball through and lifted in a cross from the left for Republic of Ireland full-back Doherty, back at Molineux after spells with Tottenham and Atletico Madrid, to head in off the underside of the crossbar.
Moments later, Doherty was at it again. The 18-year-old Fraser, on for Kalajdzic, beat the offside trap down the right and then tapped the ball back for Doherty to run at goal and beat O’Donnell at his near post.
At the other end Blackpool skipper Callum Connolly struck the crossbar with a free-kick but Wolves and Fraser had the final word six minutes from time.
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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