Wolves 2 Gillingham 0: Carabao Cup Fourth Round at Molineux settled with a Raul Jimenez penalty before a stoppage-time Rayan Ait-Nouri goal

Gillingham were finally ousted from the Carabao Cup as Premier League Wolves got the breakthrough from the penalty spot.

World Cup player Ruben Neves hit the woodwork at the end of a goalless opening half and it needed a 77th minute penalty from Raul Jimenez and Rayan Ait-Nouri’s stoppage-time effort to settle the fourth round tie.

Premier League Wolves had their Portuguese captain Neves back from Qatar, where he played in all five of his country’s matches. The challenge for the Gillingham defenders came from experienced forward Diego Costa. It was a first competitive game in charge for their new Spanish boss Julen Lopetegui.

League 2’s bottom side Gillingham, in contrast, had a threadbare squad to choose from, only naming five subs from a possible nine. Mikael Mandron was back upfront having scored the goal to take the third round tie against Brentford to penalties and eventual success for the Gills.

Manager Neil Harris wanted his men to enjoy the experience, regardless of the outcome and as expected they were having to defend in numbers from the off, lining up 4-5-1.

Hugo Bueno had an early effort saved routinely by Jake Turner, the Gills goalkeeper, but it wasn’t until late in the half that Wolves really began to look like scoring, despite the constant pressure.

Elkan Baggott made a goal-saving block with five minutes of the first half remaining from Daniel Podence and Joao Moutinho couldn’t quite control a backheel from Costa.

The best chance of the opening half fell to Joe Hodge, with a free header from Goncalo Guedes’ cross, but he nodded the chance wide. Then in stoppage-time a corner played out to the edge of the box found Neves and he smashed the effort off the upright with the last kick of the half.

Defiant