James Collins has praised the spirit of his under-21s to come back from a goal down and claim a late point at Tottenham Hotspur.
Despite creating the better chances throughout the 90 minutes, the old gold found themselves behind with 12 minutes remaining. However, the Wolves youngsters rallied to level the scoreline through Ty Barnett and Collins believes that was the least his side deserved. While highlighting that development is at the forefront of their work, the 21s boss also emphasised the importance of the players being able to pick up points when it matters in a competitive scenario.
On starting the game well
“I thought we were the better team in the first half and we came out the traps really well. After the latest few games we’ve had slow starts and at half-time the game’s been done.
“We set the boys up today to show real energy, intensity in the first half and they did. I thought we had some chances and probably deserved to be ahead at half-time.
“In the second half, I thought they (Tottenham) did better and played some really good football, but didn’t really create any clear-cut chances other than the goal.
“Overall, I thought we deserved to win but didn’t take our chances. Not easy chances, but decent chances. To show the spirit to get back when we went a goal down was good, so a good day all round.”
On balancing development with picking up points
“When you’re in a league, any league, you’ve got to teach the boys to compete and they’ve got to learn these moments of big games in a league format.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s about development. Last year, we were in the second division and probably produced more players for the first-team than we’ve produced in our history or the history I can remember. So which division we’re in doesn’t depend on producing players.
“If we do go down and end up in the second division, we’ll keep working hard on producing players.
“They’re great learning opportunities for the players when there’s five games to go, we’re playing against a rival and it’s tight coming away from home. They’re all things that will happen in their careers.”
On Ty Barnett’s performance
“The one criticism of Ty and from people within the club and he won’t mind me saying, is sometimes he wants to do all the skills but doesn’t put the hard work in.
“I thought he did today and that’s why he was getting cramp at the end. He probably hasn’t worked that hard in a game of football since I’ve seen him.
“That’s great credit to him that he’s realising, very similar to how Chem (Campbell) did, that it isn’t all about the lovely silky football. That’s important, but it’s also about competing, picking up second balls, transitions – they’re all things that aren’t much fun for young players but are vital to Premier League and Football League football.
“He probably doesn’t think he’s done brilliant, but I think that’s a real step forward for him and if he can play with that intensity and then start adding his undoubted skill to his performances then he’ll be a very good player.”
On going again against Everton on Monday
“We’re going to have some decisions to make because they won’t all be able to go out there again. Some players recover quickly and some players take a bit longer, so we might have to refresh it a bit on Monday.
“They’re a tight group that all want to work hard for each other. Whoever we put on the pitch I’m sure will do a good job for us.”
