Wolves under-18s exited the Birmingham Senior Cup at the quarter-final stage following a 5-1 loss away to Stourbridge.
An audacious chip from a Trialist gave the travelling Wolves fans something to celebrate as James McPike’s side bowed out against first-team opposition following a commendable run to the last eight.
A first-half goal from Jason Cowley and a brace from Dexter Walters gave the young Wolves side quite the hill to climb, before Lee Vaughan and Reece Styche finished off the game after the break.
Last year’s finalists started the match strongly and won an early free-kick on the right of the penalty area. Alex Prosser curled in a dangerous ball which was headed to the edge of the box where Cowley thundered a volley off the crossbar.
Their continuous pressure paid off as Cowley found the opener within the opening 20 minutes. Dexter Walters tricked his way towards the goal line before cutting a low ball across the box to Cowley who tapped past Jimmy Storer from close range.
Walters would soon go from provider to goal scorer with Crowley grabbing the assist. The number nine drilled a ball from the right across to the other side of the area where Walters was waiting. He set himself before curling a right-footed effort into the bottom corner.
Wolves attempted to reply with a goal of their own when Lee Harkin charged onto a through ball by Tom Edozie. Weaving his way into the area from the right, he looked up a blasted a shot goalward which crashed into the side netting.
The hosts made it three before the break with Walters grabbing his second of the night. Impressive link-up play between Stourbridge’s midfield resulted in Walters picking up the ball in space down the left. He then made no mistake and smashed his shot into the net.
Half-time| Stourbridge 3-0 Wolves
Wolves started the second half with more intent but almost saw a fourth goal creep in. Jaiden White received the ball on the edge of the area before hitting a wild half-volley off the crossbar.
Despite the scoreline, McPike’s side defended courageously with a back three. Storer punched away a cross from the right taking out Fil Mabete in the process. The ball fell to the edge of the box where Stourbridge fired a shot back towards goal, but Mabete defended brilliantly to head the ball off the ground and away from the open goal.
The Glassboys added two more goals to the scoreline with captain Vaughan converting from the penalty spot before Styche tapped into an open net after Storer failed to claim a cross from the right.
Despite the scoreline, Wolves kept pushing with second half substitutes making an impact off the bench. One of those players, a Trialist, found a gap and burst through the Stourbridge defence, sprinting onto the end of a through ball. With the pass bouncing and goalkeeper Charlie Price rushing his way, he clipped the ball from outside the box over and into the open net giving Wolves a goal to come away with from the game.
Full-time | Stourbridge 5-1 Wolves
REACTION
Following the defeat, McPike explained how big of a lesson the game was for his side and what they must take away from it.
“We told the lads to go straight until the end of the game, we couldn’t have put a training session on as good as the lesson they had tonight. They’ve had a real lesson in the fundamentals of the game.
“The working really, really hard, winning the tackles, headers, getting across the pitch, getting up and down the pitch before you’ve even thought about kicking a ball. So they’ve had a really good lesson in what it’s all about.”
On the older players returning to the team
“We wanted them to lead and use their experience to help the younger players around them. It was a great experience for the younger players tonight and, hopefully, it’s humbled them to what they have at the football club. But we were looking for them [the older players] to lead and to step up, I thought we could have done that better in the first half. I thought we were far too deep, we weren’t aggressive enough, their two centre-forwards caused us too many problems and we were too passive and too open. We spoke at half-time and in the second half we had a little bit more of an improved performance.”
On what they can take from the game
“How hard the game is. Some of these players the lads have played against have done a full day at work before they’ve played the game tonight and they’ll be up again at the crack of dawn tomorrow and we asked the boys could you physically do that? Could you mentally do that? And I think in some cases they wouldn’t be able to tonight. They’ve had a real lesson, a real coaching session in what the game is ultimately about and if they can do that then any ability they have will come through. If they don’t do the first bit right, they don’t give themselves much chance at all.”
COMING UP
Wolves under-18s host Newcastle in the U18 Premier League on Saturday and McPike spoke about how his team will bounce back.
“We will move on from it. We will get back to work on Thursday and Friday then we play Newcastle on Saturday. We’ve been doing some really good stuff in the league at our level and with our age group of players so just continue the way we’ve been playing, try and learn from this and hopefully the older boys will move on from this and take it as another experience.”
NEXT FIVE
- 18/02 Newcastle (H)
- 25/02 Sunderland (A)
- 04/03 Blackburn Rovers (H)
- 07/03 Everton (A)
- 18/03 Manchester City (H)
TEAMS
Stourbridge | Price, Vaughan (Holmes 62), Burton, Prosser (Gittings 58), Kettle, Hull, White, King (Wilson 62), Cowley (Worley 62), Styche, Walters (Knights 64).
Wolves | Storer, Esen, Mabete, Agboola (Trialist 70), Kandola, Igbinoghene (Harper 46), Scicluna, Rees (Carson 46), Harkin (McLeod 70), Francis-Burrell, Edozie (Reynolds 70).
