West Ham United, Leeds United and Sunderland knocked out of League Cup
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West Ham United's Lucas Paqueta in action with Wolverhampton Wanderers' Andre on Aug 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – West Ham United manager Graham Potter has admitted that his side are “in pain” as yet another defeat on Aug 26 piled more pressure on the under-fire boss.
He also had to calm things down after captain Jarrod Bowen apologised for trying to confront fans following their 3-2 League Cup second-round loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers
“We’re all in pain, so we need everybody to help, we need everybody’s support, we need to push forward and on to the next match,” Potter said on the BBC.
“The team’s suffering at the moment, we all are, we’re all hurting. I can assure you no one’s happy.
“I have no idea what was said or anything (regarding the Bowen incident).
“Our supporters have been fantastic, they are hurting because of the results we’ve had and Jarrod obviously cares about the club and the team. It’s just an exchange of views by people who care.
“Everyone is hurting, rightly so, because we haven’t had the results we’d like.”
Substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen scored twice in two minutes as Wolves clinched victory.
The Norwegian came on in the 73rd minute and made an immediate impact, striking in the 82nd and 84th minutes to turn around the match at Molineux after Lucas Paqueta had headed West Ham in front on 63 minutes.
Rodrigo Gomes had scored Wolves’ first goal of the season two minutes before half-time, after Hwang Hee-chan’s penalty rebounded off the post, but Tomas Soucek made it 1-1 with a header in the 50th minute.
The battle between the top flight’s bottom two teams provided no respite for Potter, whose side have been trounced 5-1 by Chelsea and 3-0 by Sunderland in the league.
Promoted Leeds United and Sunderland also followed West Ham out of the competition, losing on penalties to Championship side Sheffield Wednesday and third-tier Huddersfield Town respectively.
Leeds went out 3-0 on penalties after full-time at Hillsborough ended 1-1.
US international goalkeeper Ethan Horvath was the home hero, the Man of the Match mobbed by his teammates after saving twice and keeping a clean sheet in the shoot-out on his debut after joining on loan from third-tier Cardiff City.
“I have been in the door four or five days. I had to learn 10 new names in the first match I played and in this game I had to learn another 10 new names,” Horvath told Sky Sports television.
League One’s Huddersfield won their shoot-out 6-5 after regulation time at the Stadium of Light ended 1-1.
Brentford beat Bournemouth 2-0 on the South Coast in the other all-Premier League match on Aug 26, with Fabio Carvalho and Igor Thiago scoring either side of the break and against the run of play.
Burnley, one of seven Premier League sides fielding much changed line-ups from the weekend's games, beat second-tier Derby County 2-1 with Oliver Sonne scoring a stoppage-time winner at Turf Moor.
Wrexham’s Hollywood owners had plenty to smile about too.
Their side won 3-2 at Preston North End, thanks to a stoppage-time Kieffer Moore goal, after the hosts had twice taken the lead in the second-tier clash. REUTERS
