Lankshear's Stunning Debut Goal Secures Cup Win for Middlesbrough
Will Lankshear marked his Middlesbrough debut with the kind of finish that justifies a £10m fee and settles a cup tie in an instant.
One chance. One clean hook into the far corner. One place in the second round.
The 21-year-old, signed from Tottenham in the summer, struck in the 61st minute to edge out Wrexham 1-0 in the Carabao Cup first round, announcing himself to the Riverside with a goal of real quality rather than a scruffy tap-in.
Lankshear delivers on the big stage
Middlesbrough had been prodding and probing without reward. They almost had the perfect start in the seventh minute when Adilson Malanda stretched to meet Sebastian Berhalter’s cross, only for Danny Ward to throw out a reflex stop at point-blank range. It was the sort of save that shapes a night.
Wrexham answered with moments of their own. Danny Imray ghosted into space but couldn’t get enough on Callum Doyle’s delivery, a half-chance that flickered and died. Then, six minutes before the break, Nathan Broadhead rolled Sam Smith into a pocket of room and Smith drilled low, only to find Sol Brynn’s legs in the way. The away end rose, half-expecting the net to ripple. It didn’t.
After the interval, Lankshear began to circle the game like a striker sensing something. Early in the second half he curled one just over the bar, a warning that his radar had locked in.
The breakthrough came with a move that looked rehearsed but felt instinctive. Jeremy Sarmiento swung in a cross, Leo Castledine climbed to nod it down, and Lankshear did the rest. One swivel, one smooth adjustment of his body, and then that first-time volley, hooked with precision into the far corner. No fuss. No second touch. Just a striker doing what he was bought to do.
Middlesbrough almost killed it off late on when Morgan Whittaker drove low and true, only for the ball to cannon back off the post with three minutes to play. Wrexham survived that scare but never found the equaliser, and Boro’s new No 9 walked off with the night – and the tie – belonging to him.
Wolves cruise as Jimenez comes home
At Molineux, the story felt decided long before the final whistle. Wolves swept past Port Vale 3-0, all three goals arriving in a first half that underlined the gulf between the sides and gave new boss Cesar Peixoto a smooth introduction.
Adam Armstrong struck, Andre joined him on the scoresheet, and Fer Lopez added the third as Wolves seized control early and never really loosened their grip. For Port Vale, managed by Jon Brady, the chances came in flashes rather than waves.
Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel squandered the most remarkable of them, somehow hooking the ball away from the Wolves goal rather than into it before the break. Later, Mo Faal stepped up from the spot, only to see his low penalty blocked by Dan Bentley’s legs. Even their consolation wouldn’t come.
The noise, though, belonged to one man. Raul Jimenez, back in Wolves colours after three years at Fulham, drew the loudest roars of the night. The club’s Premier League top scorer returned as a late substitute, every touch greeted with affection, every movement watched.
He did manage one fierce effort on goal, a reminder of the striker who once terrorised defences here, but the script denied him a goal. Port Vale, competitive to the end, did not deserve that extra sting. Wolves, already three up and cruising, did not need it. They are through, and Jimenez is home again.
Magennis snatches it at the death for Stevenage
Wycombe and Stevenage produced a very different kind of cup tie – tight, tense, and only settled in the dying seconds.
Josh Magennis, one of Stevenage’s summer arrivals, rose deep into stoppage time to head them into the second round with a 2-1 win. Fifth minute of added time, Phoenix Patterson’s corner from the left, and Magennis climbed above everyone to power in the winner. A new signing, a late header, and the perfect opening to Stevenage’s 50th anniversary season.
The visitors had already upset the rhythm of the night once. Against the run of play in the 27th minute, Dan Kemp pounced on hesitation in the Wycombe defence, surged through and drilled a low shot past the keeper. One mistake, ruthlessly punished.
Wycombe reacted. The response came 11 minutes later when Silko Thomas, lively down the left, delivered a teasing cross and Ewan Henderson slipped through the defensive line to finish right-footed from just outside the six-yard box. Level, and suddenly the home side were snarling again.
Kemp almost silenced them on the stroke of half-time, rattling the bar from the edge of the box with a rising effort that had the goalkeeper beaten. It was a warning that Stevenage were not just here to soak up pressure.
After the break, Wycombe took a grip. Territory, possession, pressure – but not the decisive touch. Substitute Emre Tezgel, on for Cauley Woodrow, came closest in the 77th minute when he tried to force in another Thomas cross from the left, only to be denied by a superb intervention from Stevenage captain Carl Piergianni, who threw himself in the way and blocked.
The game seemed to be drifting towards extra-time. Wycombe pushing, Stevenage hanging on. Then came that final corner, that final leap from Magennis, and a header that turned a long night into a memorable one.
The Carabao Cup’s first round has barely begun, and already the new faces and returning heroes are shaping its story. How many more will step out of the shadows before this competition is done?
