Wolves under-21s took an early lead through Harvey Griffiths, and despite being pegged back shortly after, had the better chances to take all three points, even though they were a man light following Nathan Fraser’s straight red card. Collins was particularly pleased with the fighting spirit shown by his visitors, which has taken them a long way since a heavy opening day defeat to Chelsea.
On battling with ten men
“I’ve been in this job just over two years and I can’t remember being prouder of a group of players than I have been here today. I thought from start to finish, 11 versus 11, we were by far the better team. We played really good football, sustained our attacks really well and pushed them back.
“They’re a really good team at this level, have got some older boys and are good at what they do. I thought we got the tactics right and then having ten men for more than half an hour, you know it’s going to be tough. I actually thought we had the better chances with 10 men and were unfortunate not to take the lead.
“In the 93rd minute they finally wore us down and it’s heart-breaking for the lads, but we learned good lessons. What we showed today was real footballers’ spirit that academies don’t breed, it was real football – our lads rose to that which was pleasing.”
Harvey Griffiths meets Hugo Bueno's corner to put us ahead 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Oz3ucTIxim
— Wolves Academy (@WolvesAcademy) August 26, 2022
On being tough to beat
“We talked after the first game against Chelsea where we played some nice football in that game and got beat seven. That was a very naive performance and since then we’ve dug two good wins out with clean sheets. You’ve got to do the defending right and you’ve got to be secure behind the ball. I thought today we were.
“We gave a soft goal away. That was probably the biggest disappointment, the goal from nothing that equalised because, at that point, we were totally on top and in control. It’s about how you respond to setbacks and how you respond to going down to ten men – I couldn’t have asked any more from the boys.
“You never know when you come into a new league, but you know it’s going to be tough. To get seven put past you on the first day you do wonder, but since then we’ve been excellent.”
On replicating the performance against Shrewsbury
“The really interesting thing now will be seeing if they reproduce it on Tuesday in a Papa John’s Trophy game against men. It’s going to be a really tough game on Tuesday night. They’re always the hardest games of the season and for us to put in what we’ve put in today on a really hot day and end up with nothing, we’ll really find stuff out about them on Tuesday night which is great.
“It won’t be academy football where they overplay. There’s a direction to it and they’ll try and get to the goal more often. Sometimes academy football can be very technical and maybe less physical. The Papa John’s Trophy games are equally as technical but more physical – the boys must handle that.
“In my experience at the club, we’ve fared well in the games, so we’ll look forward to the challenge and see how they respond.”
