Stoke City 2 (Wright-Phillips 24, McGuinness 32) Wolves 1 (Fraser 54)
Wolves under-21s suffered defeat on the road at Stoke City as first half goals from D’Margio Wright-Phillips and Dara McGuinness secured victory for the home side at St. George’s Park.
Nathan Fraser pulled one back for the visitors nine minutes into the second 45, before a comeback was made tougher when Harvey Griffiths saw red. Despite their best efforts to level with a man light, James Collins’ side were unable to force a draw and had Joe Young to thank for preventing a third as the goalkeeper made a couple of fine saves.
Wolves looked to make inroads down their left-hand side early on as Chem Campbell got beyond his defender and saw an effort blocked, before collecting the ball once again and firing down the throat of Blondy Nna Noukeu.
There was little to separate the two sides in the opening exchanges, but that soon changed when the Potters took lead on 24 minutes. Nathan Lowe spotted the run of Wright-Phillips in space down the right-hand side and the winger did the rest as he closed in on goal and slotted underneath Young.
Stoke doubled their advantage eight minutes later as they exploited more space, this time on the right. Tom Sparrow had the vision to spot McGuinness on the left and he was able to do the rest by curling into the far corner.
The Old Gold came close to reducing the deficit moments later as some neat interchange between Campbell and Owen Hesketh down the left resulted in the latter picking out Justin Hubner in the centre, but the defender headed just wide of the post.
Wolves had Young to thank for preventing a third as Harry Birtwistle and Kam Kandola were unable to clear the danger between them, which allowed Sol Sidibe a run at Young who stood firm to divert the ball around the post.
Half-time | Stoke 2-0 Wolves
Collins’ side came out determined to find a way back into the game, and it took them just nine minutes to halve the deficit. Owen Farmer, who was looking a much more brighter spark in the second 45, fizzed a cross in from the right and Fraser came in with purpose to attack the ball with his head and loop an effort over Nna Noukeu.
Attacked with purpose. Nathan Fraser is off the mark for 2023/24 ⚽️#PL2 pic.twitter.com/HPOZcgyRp1
— Wolves Academy (@WolvesAcademy) August 21, 2023
However, Wolves’ task was made tougher with just over 20 minutes remaining as skipper Griffiths was shown a straight red card. The midfielder looked to have won the ball after going into a challenge with Sol Sidibe, but the referee judged Griffiths to have caught the Stoke man in the process.
Despite being a man light, the visitors came close to equalising when Campbell released Bruno Jordao down the left, before the midfielder cut inside his opponent and fired a strike towards goal that Nna Noukeu did brilliantly to tip over the bar.
At the other end, Stoke were denied a third by the woodwork when Wright-Phillips jinked his way into a shooting position and struck the base of the post. From the rebound, Young pulled off a sensational diving save as he tipped Lewis Macari’s curling effort behind for a corner.
The Wolves stopper was called into in stoppage time as he sprung to his right to save from Lowe’s close-range header, as the visitors went home empty-handed despite pushing well with 10.
Full-time | Stoke 2-1 Wolves
COMING UP
Wolves under-21s are back in action on Friday evening as they travel up to face Middlesbrough.
NEXT FIVE
- 25/08 Middlesbrough (A)
- 01/09 Crystal Palace (H)
- 12/09 Notts County (A) EFL Trophy
- 19/09 Norwich City (A) PL Cup
- 24/09 Liverpool (A)
TEAMS
Stoke | Nna Noukeu, Reddin, Macari, Kershaw, Okagbue, Griffin, Wright-Phillips, Sidibe, Lowe, Sparrow, McGuinness (Jeffers 76).
Subs not used | Kamga, Houston, Smith, Walker.
Wolves | Young, Birtwistle, Pond (Keto-Diyawa 82), Griffiths, Kandola (Rees 82), Hubner, Farmer (E. McLeod 88), Jordao, Fraser (Kaleta 67), Hesketh, Campbell.
Subs not used | Arinbjornsson.
