Wolves beat Brentford in last night’s FA Cup third round replay with Matheus Cunha scoring a penalty in extra-time to secure the win – and the Brazilian admitted afterwards that he was ‘completely exhausted’.
Wanderers have set up a fourth round clash with bitter rivals West Bromwich Albion after edging the Bees 3-2 at Molineux.
Wolves showed good character to come from behind twice, and young Nathan Fraser made another big impression by scoring from off the bench in the second-half.
It was a huge effort from the Wolves players with the game going to extra-time.
They dug deep and after the game, Matheus Cunha, who put Wolves ahead, admitted he was totally spent in the game…
Cunha started for Wolves once again last night, and that was always going to be the case with Hwang Hee-chan currently away on international duty and Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva both out on loan.
Cunha has been one of the most trusted players for O’Neil this season, and the South American has now racked up 23 appearances for the club this season for a total of 1912 minutes.
Last night, Cunha ran his socks off once again and after the game, he admitted (via Wolves official): “Everyone in the stadium can see, we are on the pitch and tired, everything against us, but this kind of energy gives us something more to continue run and battle. The last goal was a trophy for everybody.
“I was completely exhausted, more tired than normal, but everything is OK. The team is the most important thing. Everyone can be a little bit more confident in the team.”
Cunha was actually forced off shortly after he scored his penalty, but Gary O’Neil stated after the game ‘He’s just cramping in his hamstring’.
Cunha is so vital for Wolves
Thankfully Cunha didn’t suffer an injury last night and it was only cramp that forced him off, but his high usage is a little concerning in terms of his condition.
The £60,000-a-week ace has played so much football this season for Wolves.

The only game he has not featured in is the Carabao Cup game against Blackpool back in August.
He’s started every single Premier League game and only once has he ever played fewer than 70 minutes – most of the time, he plays a full 90.
It just shows what a vital player he has become for Wolves and how highly O’Neil rates him as a player. But hopefully, the manager can bring in that new striker, just to lighten Cunha’s workload, because it would be a travesty to lose him to injury.