16-year-old Fraser Harper scored the winner on his under-21s debut, as Wolves were 1-0 winners at Cardiff City in the Premier League Cup.
An assured performance from a young Wolves outfit saw Harper combine with Fabian Reynolds early into proceedings which proved to be the only goal of the game.
Against their more experienced hosts, which included first teamers Curtis Nelson and Sean Morrison in defence, the old gold showed the strength in depth within the academy, with 15 and 16-year-olds once again playing crucial roles for the second game running.
With so many regulars for the 21s called up for first team training, there were again opportunities aplenty for players to rise to the occasion while, in addition, those who have been involved in the under-18s set-up got their shot by rising up the age groups.
The visitors started well as Dylan Scicluna threaded a ball through to the marauding Marvin Kaleta who got there first, but was denied by Matt Turner, before a defender intelligently got back on the line to prevent Dongda He with the follow-up.
Wolves were rewarded for their strong start 17 minutes in when they broke the deadlock through Harper. The midfielder started the move on the halfway line and played it out wide to Reynolds, before making his way into the box. Reynolds had the vision to pick out his teammate, before Harper took a touch and fired high into the net for the opener.
Cardiff eyed a response minutes later, but Andreas Sondergaard was in charge of the situation when Isaak Davies let fly from range.
It was a confident opening 45 from the old gold, who were three years younger than their opponents when it came to the average age of the starting eleven, as James Collins’ side were comfortable in taking the lead into the interval.
Half-time | Cardiff City 0-1 Wolves
Bluebirds boss Darren Purse wasted no time in tweaking his team for the second half, bringing on Gabriele Bianchieri in place of Davies. And the substitute almost made the desired impact, as he cut inside and curled an effort towards the right-hand corner, but Sondergaard was there with a diving save to his left to deny the attacker.
A well-worked corner routine so nearly presented Wolves with goal number two as Scicluna picked out Kam Kandola who had peeled away at the back post, before seeing his powerful drive towards goal deflected just over the top of the bar.
Wolves introduced youngsters Conor McLeod and Dom Plank for their under-21 debuts to occupy the flanks for the final 25 minutes or so, and it didn’t take the latter long to get into the thick of it. Following some neat hold-up play from Lee Harkin, Plank collected the ball and took aim from the edge of the area, only to see a deflected strike tipped over the top Matt Turner.
The away side were mature in closing the game out, and even came close to doubling their lead late on. Kaleta once again made a powerful run down the right and looked for Plank in the centre, but the winger couldn’t quite make a clean contact as the ball bounced wide.
Caden Voice, 16, came off the bench for the second game this week to help preserve the points as Wolves made it three wins from three in the PL Cup.
Full-time | Cardiff City 0-1 Wolves
COMING UP
The under-21s host Valencia at the New Bucks Head in the Premier League International Cup on Wednesday evening.
NEXT FIVE
- 07/12 Valencia (H) PLIC
- 10/12 Cardiff City (H) PLC
- 14/12 Wolfsburg (H) PLIC
- 19/12 Reading (A) PLC
- 06/01 Blackburn (H)
TEAMS
Cardiff City | Turner, MacNamara, T. Davies, Morrison (Kenniford 79), Nelson, Antwi, Semenyo, Pritchard (Jefferies 54), I. Davies (Bianchieri 46), Leahy, Wigley.
Unused subs | Dennis, Clay.
Wolves | Sondergaard, Kaleta, Keto-Diyawa, Scicluna, Mabete, Kandola, Reynolds (McLeod 64), Harper (Voice 82), He (Plank 74), Hodnett, Harkin.
Unused subs | Amos.
