Steve Davis’ under-18s returned to action after a fortnight without a game and continued their unbeaten start to the season against bottom side Derby Country, in an entertaining encounter which saw two penalties awarded and the points shared in an enthralling 2-2 draw.
Owen Farmer and Conor McLeod were on target in the first-half for the old gold, who recovered from falling behind early on, but were forced to settle for a point after the Rams netted their equaliser from the penalty spot after the break.
The lively contest started exactly that way, as Wolves’ man between the sticks Jimmy Storer slipped when attempting to meet an under-hit Caden Voice back pass, and Derby’s Lennon Wheeldon pounded, rounding Storer and squaring to a teammate whose resulting shot was incredibly saved by the recovering keeper.
Wolves thought they had taken an early lead when composed captain Fil Mabete manoeuvred out of a risky situation and impressively picked out Owen Farmer down the right flank, and his low first time cross was met by Leon Chiwome in the middle, who applied the finish, only for the move to be ruled out for offside.
However, in the 14th minute Derby County found the opener, as a result of the high intensity tempo set by the hosts. A lofted cross into the box was met by the head Wheeldon who had drifted between the Wolves centre backs to find space, before powering his effort beyond the helpless Storer from close range to give the home side the early advantage.
The lead didn’t last for long however, as a late challenge on Chiwome saw Wolves earn a penalty. The strike partner Farmer slipped when taking the penalty, but still managed to fire into the roof of the net, and despite protests from the Derby players, the good was given.
With momentum on their side, Wolves quickly took the lead. McLeod started and finished the move, with his pass, initially intended for Chiwome who was fouled, finding Farmer, and the attacker square for McLeod to slot home.
Half-time | Derby County 1-2 Wolves
Wolves started the second period in search of a third, and half-time substitute Mo Diomande did brilliantly to feed Farmer, who floated a ball to the left where Josh Essen waited, and once he cut back to Chiwome, his first-time side-footed low effort forced a comfortable save out of Jack Thompson in the Derby goal.
However, 17 minutes into the second period, Derby’s Billy Gough, who had advanced the length of the pitch from left back, was brought down in the area, and for the second time in the game the referee pointed to the spot. Despite his tall frame and guessing correctly, Storer was unable to reach Wheeldon’s effort into the bottom right corner – his second of the game, which drew the Rams level.
From there, a host of substitutions disrupted the final half an hour, with both sides showing their frustrations and the game becoming increasingly congested and scrappy. With ten minutes remaining, Tom Edozie found himself in behind the high Derby line on a few occasions but failed to latch on to the through ball before the outrushing Thompson as the game finished level.
Full-time | Derby County 2-2 Wolves
Next Five
- 15/10 Middlesbrough (H)
- 29/10 Liverpool (H)
- 12/11 Leeds United (A)
- 19/11 Nottingham Forest (H)
- 26/11 Newcastle United (A)
REACTION
Under-18s head coach Steve Davis took the positives from a battling performance away from home, as his young side continued their unbeaten start to the U18s Premier League.
Davis said: “Generally, I was pleased if I’m honest. First-half we caused them a lot of problems down the sides and in behind. When we switched the play, I thought we found the gaps on the opposite side of the pitch really well.
“It was quite a physical game I thought, they were very difficult to break down, very physical throughout the whole of the game, so generally I was pleased. Second-half we fizzled out a little bit, we couldn’t quite find the spaces that we found first half which made it harder for us, but overall, I thought we were the better team.”
On expecting and coping with the physicality
“I think it’s always a difficult game wherever we go and obviously we’ve never had an easy game at Derby, so we obviously expected [the same today]. They have been playing quite well, they haven’t been winning games, but they have been playing quite well in their games, so we knew it was going to tough game and that’s how it proved really.
“As I say, disappointed to draw, I thought we did enough to win the game, but the key thing is that the performance is decent, that’s what we’re looking at really.”
On Owen Farmer’s performance
“He’s been good. Every game we have played this season the other clubs have mentioned him with his movement and his ability in front of goal, so he’s just got to keep playing well. “He’s a lad who works very hard off the pitch to get better, so when he has an impact in a game, that’s what we’re looking for him to do; his two-touch penalty that was given and his little slip before the finish. He’s a great lad and if he can keep scoring and keep assisting, then his stats are going to be really high this season, and hopefully he can get some opportunities in the 21s.”
On Ty Barnett’s return from injury
“He’s been out a long time. We’ve done a steady increase in his training load, and then there comes a time where he’s able to get some game time. He’s had a tough time, he’s had quite a few setbacks, so now hopefully we can manage it right for him, he had 15 minutes today, hopefully we can build on those minutes next week if he has a good week this week.
“It’s good to have him back, good to have any player who has been out in with injuries back involved and we want to try and push him on and keep developing him now. Obviously, he’s lost a lot of time, so we want to try and make that time up.”
On having a week’s break before the next game
“I don’t mind, we can always do in-house games, things like that, with the 21s, we can arrange games around fixtures that we haven’t got. It’s nice to play weekly, sometimes good to put a midweek game in as well, test them with a Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, so as I say, if there’s no game we can work at other things, there’s always something to do in development football.”
TEAMS
Derby County | Thompson, Perry (Dixon 54’), Gough (Gill 70’), Moore, Robinson, Aideyan, McAndrew, Fapetu, Wheeldon, Ashia (Simons 73’), Nicholas-Davies
Unused subs | Shattell, Osong
Wolves | Storer, Kaleta, Mabete, Ojinnaka, Voice (Diomande 45’), Igbinoghene (Barnett 73’), McLeod (Reynolds 70’), Harper, Chiwome, Farmer (Edozie 73’), Esen
Unused subs | Francis-Burrell
By Ollie Spencer
