Wolves under-21s suffered defeat at Liverpool, as Leyton Stewart stole the show by netting a hat-trick, while substitute Oakley Cannonier also bagged a brace late on.
The old gold were more than a match for their opponents, before four goals in the final 22 minutes put the PL2 encounter out of reach.
With head coach James Collins assisting Steve Davis in charge of the first team fixture at Chelsea, Ian Sharps and Darren Ryan took the reins at Kirkby Academy.
The hosts threatened an early opener and but for some heroic defending from Kam Kandola, they’d have found themselves a goal ahead. Mateusz Musialowski latched onto a ball through and dinked it over the top of Andreas Sondergaard – just as the attacker was about to tap home, across came Kandola who slid in to deny Liverpool on the line.
Kam Kandola. What a clearance!#PL2 pic.twitter.com/bmadXE2dCI
— Wolves Academy (@WolvesAcademy) October 8, 2022
Wolves responded well, with Tyler Roberts and Harvey Griffiths both seeing efforts blocked before Jack Hodnett delivered a free-kick right on top of Fabian Mrozek who claimed well in a sea of bodies.
Ollie Tipton was next to test the gloves of Mrozek as he struck a free-kick from 30 yards out but, despite his good accuracy, the midfielder didn’t quite generate the power to trouble the home stopper.
At the other end, Sondergaard got down low to thwart Liverpool’s number seven, Melkamu Frauendorf, who was fortunate to see the ball land in his path before hitting a snapshot.
Wolves looked dangerous on the attack and after Hodnett had won a loose ball in midfield, Lee Harkin was set on his way. Drifting in from the left, the Irishman cut inside at pace and fired a shot into the gloves of Mrozek.
The home side broke the deadlock with four minutes of the opening 45 remaining with a goal slightly against the run of play. Jake Cain zipped the ball into the feet of Stewart who, inside the 12-yard box, opened his body and found the bottom left-hand corner with a clinical finish past Sondergaard.
Half-time | Liverpool 1-0 Wolves
A last-ditch toe-in from Harry Birtwistle was required to deny Liverpool a second goal shortly after the break, as Musialowski was about to pull the trigger.
Wolves then had a period of patient play as the visitors went in search of an equaliser, with a pass from Hodnett finding Roberts in space on the right-hand side. The winger switched play to Harkin who, in turn, drifted inside and found the feet of Nathan Fraser. Tipton was waiting to the right of the box and received the ball off the striker, before forcing Mrozek to punch away from danger following a testing ball into the box.
Moments later, Hodnett tried his luck with a curling effort from the edge that didn’t quite have the dip, as he cleared the crossbar after some neat work from Roberts in the build-up.
Sondergaard had to be at his best at the other end of the pitch as he pulled off an impressive save to deny Stewart a second with the shot heading into the top corner. However, the frontman got his revenge a minute later to double his tally for the afternoon. Dominic Corness found Stewart inside the area before the number nine allowed the ball to drop over his shoulder and arrowed a low shot into the bottom right corner with his left boot.
Wolves looked to pull one back immediately as Roberts got to the byline and dinked a cross to the back-post where substitute Aaron Keto-Diyawa was waiting, but he couldn’t find the precision on his header back across goal as the chance fizzled out.
Indeed, it wasn’t to be Wolves’ day as Stewart claimed the match ball with a sensational lob over the top of Sondergaard from some 40 yards out, after the striker had spotted the goalkeeper off his line.
The hosts added extra gloss to the scoreline with Cannonier coming off the bench to notch twice inside the final five minutes to put the game to bed.
Full-time | Liverpool 5-0 Wolves
COMING UP
The Wolves youngsters host Tottenham Hotspur at Aggborough next Saturday in PL2, ahead of their final Papa John’s Trophy group stage fixture at Port Vale the following Tuesday.
NEXT FIVE
- 15/10 Tottenham (H)
- 18/10 Port Vale (A) PJT
- 22/10 Man Utd (A)
- 31/10 Leicester (H)
- 07/11 West Ham (A)
TEAMS
Liverpool | Mrozek, Stephenson, Norris, Quansah, Jonas, Corness, Frauendorf (Chambers 63), Clark, Stewart (Cannonier 78), Cain, Musialowski (Doak 83).
Unused subs | Kelly, Spearing.
Wolves | Sondergaard, Birtwistle (Matheson 68), Lembikisa, Tipton, Pond, Kandola, Roberts, Griffiths, Fraser (Chiwome 73), Hodnett (Ojinnaka 84), Harkin (Keto-Diyawa 68).
