Despite a bright start on the south coast, the hosts went into the half-time interval two goals to the good and gave Wolves under-21s an uphill task in the second. After some honest exchanges in the dressing room, Collins was much more pleased with how the old gold acquitted themselves when they went back onto the pitch, despite eventually losing by three goals to one. The head coach also suggested that the team are giving themselves a good chance of remaining in the league with seven Premier League 2 fixtures to go, while touching on other positives including the return of Christian Marques from injury and the form of other individuals.
On the result and first half display
“I’m disappointed with the result. Coming here today we were very tight together in the league, so it was an opportunity for both teams to pull away from the other.
“For the first 20 minutes we were decent and solid, which you have to be away from home. Then we gave away a poor goal and didn’t defend it very well.
“For 15 or 20 minutes we were then really poor. We conceded a second and it ended up being a really poor half, despite being happy halfway through it.”
On what was said at half-time and the response
“There were some home truths at half-time. The boys spoke honestly with each other, what they needed to do and we decided in the second half to have much more of a press because we were chasing the game a bit more.
“I wanted them to show a bit more spirit and fight than they had done in the first half.
“They did that and I thought we were the better team in the second half without showing enough moments of really class. We scored a really good goal and created a couple of really good chances.
“It was disappointing to give a soft goal away from a corner which made it an even bigger hill to climb.
“It was a great response in the second half – we showed great spirit and quality. However, the second half of the first half was where the game was won and lost.”
On the three-game unbeaten run coming to an end
“The goal gave them confidence and something to play with. They got better and we looked a little bit lost, not showing enough discipline with our defending and structure.
“I think that’s where we’re at. I don’t think we’re ready to go on a run of seven, eight, nine wins.
“We’re having a right good go in this league. Every time this club’s been in this league in the past, we’ve gone straight down.
“It’s a tough league. You look at the facilities and money spent on players – it is high-quality and there are high standards.”
On the remaining games
“To stay in the league will be a really good achievement. We’re giving ourselves a really good chance of doing that, but you don’t get anything for free.
“We’ve got seven games left and we’ve got to keep getting better with our performances, keep playing well.
“We’ve had a good run of late – two wins and a draw against Arsenal, Manchester United and Leicester, so three really good results.”
On more minutes for Christian Marques
“It would’ve been good for him to get a good loan, I think he’s ready for that. He needs the games to get fit because he hasn’t played for a while.
“We’ve probably not seen the best of him yet which is understandable. He lasted an hour today and 45 minutes in the last game.
“It’s nice to have him around because he’s a good kid and a good player. He wants to improve and do better, which is all we can ask of the players in the group.”
On the other positives
“We had Hodgey today who’s had a bit of a niggling injury lately and that was good to get him 90 minutes.
“There are plenty of positives. Ty Barnett’s producing moments at this level, the highest level he’s played at to this point at 17 years of age.
“Owen Hesketh’s getting better week-by-week. Dexter had a right go today, so there’s some good individual stuff in there.”
