Despite elimination from the primary cup, Wolves rallied and defeated Leicester City in sudden death thanks to Ennis’ strike. He finished at the competitions top goal scorer with six to his name, while John and Francis also impressed, in what was a thoroughly successful exercise for Rob Edwards and his players.
Cameron John
On the Leicester win
“It’s a great achievement. We made it interesting there, I thought we dominated the game, kept the ball and had a lot of chances, we made it a bit difficult, but we’re delighted to get the win. It was good to face someone we were used to. They caused us different problems, more physical, powerful and athletic, so it was great test.
“We’ve got the players to do it (sudden death). Niall (Ennis) with that strength can bully anyone and ‘Gilo’ with the quality he has, and we made it count.”
On ending a good week on a high
“You don’t want to end the season on a poor note. We’ve had a great season this year and to go back with a little something is great for us and we can enjoy our break. It’s been eventful, a bit different for all of us, with the humidity and different conditions, but everyone embraced it, enjoyed it, and it was a great experience.”
Niall Ennis
On Portimonense victory
“It was a tough game, the weather was getting to us a bit, but it’s about character to find a way of winning and we did it. I’m not going to lie, it was frustrating us losing (the cup), but the good thing about football is that there’s always another game and we just had to put it right."
On scoring goals
“It’s good to get the goal, it would have been nice to get the goal in the main cup, but still there was a trophy to be won. We were really determined because you don’t come to these competitions and not want to win. It’s about building a winning mentality in whatever competition you’re in.”
On the competition
“It’s a good standard, I don’t think any of us in the team have ever played seven-a-side so it’s a good experience. As they said in the event, there’s a lot of big players who’ve gone on to do big things who’ve been at this tournament so it’s good to be a part of it.”
Ed Francis
On elimination from primary cup
“We were obviously disappointed. We won the ball first, so had a good chance to score that we didn’t take, and a minute later we got done the other way. We just had to bounce back, we had more games to play so were looking forward to them.
“We played well throughout the 20 minutes. We got the goal with about two minutes left, so all we had to do was keep the ball, but unfortunately we didn’t and they got a chance and scored. Then it was sudden death which can go either way.”
