Wolves Under-18s manager Darren Ryan said his side must learn from the disappointment of losing 5-3 to Derby County.
Braces from Morgan Whittaker and Tyree Wilson after Jayden Mitchell-Lawson’s opener inflicted defeat on Wolves at Molineux despite two goals from Austin Samuels and a first-half strike from Luke Cundle.
Ryan described the importance of learning from mistakes and emphasised the necessity of good preparation after a nightmare first half.
He said: “For the amount of praise that we all give them, and have done recently, they still have to take lessons from this disappointment today and learn from them.”
Wolves have picked up important wins recently against Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle to move away from the foot of the Premier League U18 North table, which Ryan believes shows what his side is capable of despite Tuesday’s defeat.
“I think they will learn, they have to show togetherness now to come through it,” he said. “I know the players, they have been really good in the past few weeks.
“This kind of game shows that you just cannot afford to switch off. I spoke to them, and Scott (Sellars) came in and had a few words with them after the game today as well.
“They are young players at the moment, we know that. As long as they learn, that is all that we can ask of them.”
Ryan was keen to draw on the positives in Wolves’ display. Young midfielder Todd Parker, who assisted Samuels’ first goal, and his goalscoring midfield partner Cundle were described as particularly impressive.
He said: “I thought our two young midfielders were very good, they came out of the game with plenty of credit.
“The team has been very good in the past five or six weeks. As a group on the whole they have been great and I have praised them.”
Samuels’ late brace gives Wolves a platform on which to build some confidence ahead of the league season-ending tie against Everton at Compton Park on Saturday.
