Boubacar Hanne bagged a hat-trick as Wolves progressed to the quarter-finals of the Birmingham Senior Cup after a young old gold side secured a comfortable six-goal win over ninth tier Tividale.
At the third time of asking - due to the game twice being postponed - a team consisting of under-23s travelled to the Apray Arena in Willenhall to take on the Dale for the first time in the club's history, as the sides competed in the second round of the oldest county cup competition still active.
Despite the heavy rain, it didn’t take long for the young Wolves team to assert their dominance over their Midland Football League rivals, with Hanne, who netted twice in the first round tie against Stratford Town, opening the scoring just under 20 minutes into the contest. The forward added his and Wolves’ second just minutes later.
A regular member of Nuno Espirito Santo’s senior squad, Dion Sanderson put a rocket of a shot past Tividale’s keeper Ryan Cheshire for Wolves’ third of the evening, before Renat Dadashov scored his first goal in gold and black following his summer transfer from Estoril just before the half-time whistle was blown.
Going in 4-0 up at the break, Wolves came out with the same intensity in the second-half and added two more goals, with Dadashov doubling his tally ten minutes into the second period, before Hanne went one better than his brace against Stratford to confirm his hat-trick with 15 minutes of the game remaining.
With the six goals under their belt, Wolves earned their place in the quarter-finals, and another away tie, as they head to National League North outfit Leamington FC in the next round.
COMING UP
The under-23s will play back-to-back fixtures in the Premier League Cup next week as they take on Derby County at Loughborough University on Monday, before facing Leeds United on Friday 24th January in the fourth of six group stage games.
NEXT FIVE
20/01 Derby County (H) PLC
24/01 Leeds United (H) PLC
29/01 Liverpool (H) PLIC
03/02 Southampton (A)
06/02 Birmingham City (A) PLC
TEAMS
Tividale: Cheshire, Hurdman, Bryson, Hunt, Burroughs, Cocking, Wilkinson, Carter, Bustin, Welding, Smith.
Subs: Barnes, Milne, Rowley, Clarke.
Wolves: Sondergaard, Nya, Sanderson, Taylor, Otasowie, Hanne, Francis, Hong Wan, Perry, Dongda He, Dadashov.
Subs: Young, Csoka, Thompson, Hesketh, Hodnett.
