Matt Doherty is the only member of the current Wolves squad that played against Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-final of 2019 and the Irish international is hoping history repeats itself against Coventry City on Saturday.
The defender admits he is ‘pretty confident’ of replicating the result from five years ago, which saw Wolves book a place in the semi-finals at Wembley thanks to a 2-1 win over the Red Devils, but he understands the difficult threat the Old Gold have in front of them when the Sky Blues arrive at Molineux.
On Wolves’ run to the quarter-finals
“It’s been a good run and we got to play West Brom away, which not many of us here have ever got to do that before, so that was nice. I think it was a long time since we’d beaten then away, almost 30 years, so everybody felt pretty good about it.
“The game was comfortable enough, but then after, everyone was obviously happy that we didn’t slip up and we didn’t take them for granted because we knew what type of game it would be.
“We also had the two games against Brentford where you could hardly split us and we had to come through a bit of adversity there, being down to 10 men for so long and then a goal down in the first game.”
On preparing to face Coventry
“Our run hasn’t been filled with ‘huge’ games against United and all the other teams, but that’s the whole point of the cup competitions, you play a variety of teams from different leagues.
“Obviously, we’ll be favourites against Coventry, and we are at home, we’re a very good side and well coached, so without disrespecting anybody, we know it’s going to be a tough game and we’re not going to take anybody likely, but we’re pretty confident.”
On playing in the last quarter-final at Molineux
“Everyone tells me about the atmosphere that evening, but I actually don’t remember what it was like. When you’re playing, the atmospheres almost pass you by because you’re just thinking about the game.
“But back then, playing against Man United, we might have even been favourites because we were knocking all teams over that season and we went into every game, against almost everyone, feeling like we were the better team.
“Everyone was playing at their best of their abilities and everyone’s confidence was so high.”
On wanting to make up for 2019
“Growing up in Ireland, the FA Cup wasn’t particularly a competition that I always wanted to play in. For me, the Premier League was always the dream, and the FA Cup is just the cup competition that comes with it.
“But when you’re in it, you obviously want to do well and get as far as you can. You want to go on a run and you want to get to Wembley, especially now with the position that we are in – you want to see if you can go as far as you can.
“I managed to get into a semi-final a few years ago with Wolves, and we should have won, so I really want to get back there this year.”
