Despite a valiant second-half effort, Wolves Academy under 18s went down 2-0 to Newcastle United when the sides met at Compton Park on Saturday.

The Geordies, who shortly face Aston Villa in the FA Youth Cup semi-final, moved ahead inside the opening 15 minutes through Brad Inman.

Wolves, who were slow out of the traps in the opening half, got their act together after the interval but they were thwarted by visiting keeper Jak Alnwick and were hit on the break just before the end as Inman struck once again.

Alnwick is the younger brother of Tottenham Hotspur keeper, Ben.

Coach Mick Halsall said: "We took a while to get going in the first-half finding ourselves a goal down early on and having to hang on at times against a team that moved the ball quickly as they went forward.

"Having said that we had two very good chances but their keeper managed to keep them out. In the second-half I thought we were excellent in both our desire and attitude and we played with a real purpose.

"We continued to create good chances, with another four good ones, but once again their keeper was excellent and he kept us at bay.

"If I had to be critical it would be on our finishing and the fact that, at times, we tended to rush things when we had good opportunities to put better balls into their box.

"Some of our players must look to get on the ball more in certain areas of the pitch and not allow the game to pass them by which is what happened in the opening half.

"It was harsh on our lads when Newcastle broke and scored, what for me, was an undeserved second goal in the last minute."

Pictured: James Spray looks for a way through the Newcastle defence.