Wolves 6-1 Shrewsbury Town: FLW report as Strand Larsen hat-trick helps end Salop's FA Cup run in Wolves rout | OneFootball

FLW report as the fourth-tier Shrews visit Premier League opposition in the FA Cup

League Two strugglers Shrewsbury Town saw their FA Cup adventure ended by the Premier League's bottom club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, at Molineux.

After defeating South Shields and Sutton United in the competition's earlier rounds, Michael Appleton's side were largely undone by a Jorgen Strand Larsen hat-trick, as Wolves made it four matches undefeated across all competitions with a 6-1 rout.

The Norwegian opened the scoring on nine minutes with a close-range strike, before Jhon Arias doubled the advantage less than three minutes later.

Salop were handed a lifeline when the Colombian fouled John Marquis inside the box, before the experienced striker calmly stuck his penalty away.

However, Larsen would be the scourge of the Shropshire side again, initially capitalising on a grave error from Elyh Harrison before the break, before netting his third of the afternoon in front of the South Bank on 58 minutes.

Wolves substitutes, Rodrigo Gomes and Tolu then put further gloss on the score with four minutes to go with further close-range efforts.

Wolves 6-1 Shrewsbury Town

The Shrews were immediately put under pressure by Wanderers, with Tom Anderson doing enough to divert Joao Gomes' effort behind for a corner after Jackson Tchatchoua's initial cutback.

The deadlock was broken after nine minutes as Hwang raced onto a defence-splitting pass from Ladislav Krejci before playing in Larsen for the Norwegian's fourth of the season.

Appleton's side had left themselves with a mountain to climb two minutes later when a neat passing move saw the striker feed Arias, who raced towards Harrison before slotting the ball home.

It was almost three for Wolves inside 15 minutes when Joao Gomes' audacious flick flew over Harrison's right-hand post. However, Shrewsbury were handed a lifeline 11 minutes later when Arias was adjudged to have tripped Marquis inside the box, with the experienced frontman reducing the arrears from 12 yards.

The hosts then spurned a golden chance to restore their two-goal lead when Gomes' scuffed effort couldn't be turned home by Strand Larsen from five yards out, before the advancing Krejci finessed a Tchatchoua cross narrowly wide.

However, Harrison would have a moment to forget four minutes before the break, as his attempt to play out from the back was immediately intercepted and turned home by Strand Larsen for his second of the game.

The striker then went in search of his hat-trick in the second period's opening minutes, heading a teasing Tchatchoua ball just over the crossbar.

Shrewsbury's supporters were offered some form of encouragement when Tommy McDermott and Sam Clucas both went close 10 minutes into the half, with the latter seeing a low drive cleared off the line by Santiago Bueno.

Larsen would take the matchball home after his tidy finish on 58 minutes, though, as he was given too much space inside the box to calmly slot Arias' through ball past Harrison.

Rob Edwards' side continued to push for more goals in the final 20 minutes, with Bueno and Rodrigo Gomes seeing efforts blocked, whilst a neat stop from Harrison denied Larsen a fourth of the afternoon from Mateus Mane's hanging cross and Arias couldn't add his second of the game with a poor free-kick.

After squandering a handful of chances, the returning Gomes and fellow substitute, Tolu, continued the scoring in the dying embers.

The Nigerian striker initially put one on a plate for Gomes after Fer Lopez's initial effort smacked the post, before Tolu raced onto David Moller Wolfe's square ball in the second minute of second half stoppage-time to add further gloss on what was a routine passage into round four for the Black Country outfit.

Player Ratings

Wolves

Sam Johnstone - 6

Matt Doherty - 7

Santiago Bueno - 7.5

Ladislav Krejci - 7

Jackson Tchatchoua - 7 (R. Gomes 60" - 7.5)

Jhon Arias - 9 (Lima 84" - 6)

Andre - 7.5

Joao Gomes - 6.5 (Mane 60" - 7)

David Moller Wolfe - 8

Hee Chan Hwang - 8 (Lopez 74" - 6.5)

Jorgen Strand Larsen - 9.5 (Tolu 74" - 7.5)

Unused Subs: Dan Bentley, Yerson Mosquera, Hugo Bueno, Tawanda Chirewa

Shrewsbury Town

Elyh Harrison - 4

Luca Hoole - 5

Tom Anderson - 5

Will Boyle - 4

Ismeal Kabia - 6

Taylor Perry - 6.5

Josh Ruffels - 6 (Loughran 73" - 6)

Sam Clucas - 6

Tommy McDermott - 6

John Marquis - 7

Iwan Morgan - 6 (Ogunsuyi 73" - 6)

Unused Subs: Will Brook, Mal Benning, George Lloyd, Callum Stewart, Isaac England, Will Gray, Chuks Aneke

Reacting to Wolves' comfortable success over their League Two opponents, Edwards' initial verdict was: "It was a good performance.

"The only way we were going to win today was by 'winning'. It was very professional, but lots of good quality as well.

"As a team we looked good, but I thought there were lots of good individual performances out there and some nice little stories as well, with Rodrigo (Gomes) coming back and Jorgen getting his hat-trick," he added.

"It was a really good day all round. Nice for the supporters to enjoy and celebrate a few goals.

"What could have been a really tricky day turned out to be a very enjoyable one."

Michael Appleton reacts as Shrewsbury Town blown away by Wolves

Reacting to his side's heavy defeat at Molineux, Appleton began: "Obviously, if you turned on the TV and looked at the result, you would have thought 'that must've been very much one way', and I think there were times and moments in the game where it was.

"But, there were big moments that probably made a huge impact on the game," the Shrews boss claimed

"First and foremost, the first 10 minutes, going 2-0 down, you make it very difficult for yourselves. But, the lads reacted quite well and started putting a string of passages of play together.

"Obviously, we get back into the game with a penalty, and the third goal has a massive effect on the game. Not just in terms of going two goals behind again, but from a confidence point of view," he explained.

"We get a chance to regroup at half-time, and at 3-1, we get a couple of flashes across the box, Clucas' shot off the line, and within 90 seconds we're 4-1 down.

"They're the moments that have to go your way in these games. I've been quite fortunate over the years that I've had three or four that have gone for me.

"Unfortunately, today wasn't the day, and we faced Wolves on a good little patch at the minute.

"The quality told. It was a couple of wonderful goals that they scored, and our players aren't going to face that, week-in, week-out," said Appleton.

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