Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo has acknowledged that there is plenty of sadness within the club’s ranks after the team were ousted at the semi-final stage of the FA Cup. The west Midlands side appeared favourites to reach their first Cup final since 1960 after grabbing a 2-0 advantage in the second half, but it was not meant to be after the Hornets orchestrated a terrific comeback.

Substitute Gerard Deulofeu scored the Hornets’ first goal with a stunning lob attempt and thereafter, they managed to stretch the game into added extra-time with Troy Deeney earning and converting a penalty in the dying minutes of the second half. From then, Javi Gracia’s side looked the side with the momentum to seal the winner and they managed to do so through Deulofeu, who managed to outclass goalkeeper John Ruddy with a neat finish at the far post.

Speaking after the game, “Nuno was hugely disappointed with the outcome of the encounter and acknowledged that the team“ squandered a great chance to reach a Cup final, he said: “It was emotional. It was a sad moment, we cannot hide it. It is tough, sometimes the pain that you feel makes you grow. You have to feel it as a group. We will stick together because it is our identity. It is relentless, we never give up and we will come again. We must keep “growing as a team“ and try to reach a semi-final in the future and win it.”

Wolves have enjoyed a strong season since the comeback to the Premier League and Nuno will be hoping that the Cup defeat does not have diverse effects on the team’s league form. At present, Wolves are currently behind seventh-placed Leicester City on goal difference, but they have a game in hand through which they can leapfrog the Foxes. The seventh position would assure them of Europa League football next term, provided Manchester City beat Watford in the FA Cup final next month.