Wolves under-18s suffered just their third defeat of the U18 Premier League North season against a clinical Everton at Compton Park.
Two second-half goals from Lewis Dobbin secured three points for the away side after Bobby Carroll put them ahead at half-time.
Despite a positive start to the game from Steve Davis’ side, it was Everton who took the lead when Carroll guided a low effort past Jackson Smith.
The Toffees almost doubled their advantage but for fine goalkeeping from Smith who made a smart stop to deny Lewis Warrington.
Wolves started the second-half brightly as they searched for an equaliser, but it was the away side who doubled their lead through Dobbin.
A quick break from Carroll ended with the ball at the feet of Dobbin, the striker slotted his effort into the bottom corner.
Captain Luke Cundle was close to starting a fightback, but his half-volley was saved at point-blank range with the rebound hooked clear before the midfielder could react.
Everton made sure of the points in the 81st minute when Dobbin scored his second of the game. A quick counter-attack ended with the striker finishing in similar fashion to his first.
REACTION
After the defeat, head coach Steve Davis was pleased with the amount of opportunities his side created, but admitted they still lacked that cutting edge.
He said: “We have created good moments, lots of set pieces and corners but didn’t make anything of them. We’ve been doing a lot of work on that area; we just need that bit of quality. We haven’t scored a lot of goals; we have found it hard to adapt.
“We have to be clinical, sometimes we didn’t have enough players in the box. We paid the price for not being able to get back into it.
“We started the second-half well after being down in the first-half. We had a lot of the ball but got done on a couple of counter-attack goals, so we weren’t secure when attacking.”
COMING UP
The under-18s are back in U18 Premier League Cup action on Wednesday 30th October as they visit Chelsea. They return to league action on Saturday 2nd November with an away trip to Manchester United.
NEXT FIVE
30/10 Chelsea (A) PLC
02/11 Man United (A)
09/11 Derby County (A)
23/11 Blackburn Rovers (A) PLC
30/11 Newcastle United (A)
TEAMS
Wolves: Smith, Scott, Estrada, Tipton, Richards, Bueno, Corbeanu (Parker 66), Abbey, Carty (Bugarin 82), Cundle, Hodnett (Forrester 59).
Unused subs: Kandola, Harkin.
Everton: Barrett, Hosie, Ancurson (Cannon 82), Hagan, Astley, Hughes, Quirk, Onyango, Dobbin (Lowey 82), Carroll, Warrington (McCallister 84).
Unused subs: McLaclan, Higgins.
Report by Sam Ward
