James Collins felt there were plenty of learnings to take as Wolves under-21s were defeated by Lincoln City in the EFL Trophy.
The League One outfit ran out 2-0 winners at the LNER Stadium on Tuesday evening, but head coach Collins was proud of his players who stood up well to a tough and physical test. Joe Young was forced into some heroic saves late on but for the majority, Collins felt his players held their own and has once again highlighted the competition as ‘brilliant’ for development and the experiences it provides.
On the 90 minutes
“There are lots of learnings. They’re really tough games when we’re in this competition and probably the hardest of the season – playing against men away from home.
“We managed to get a brilliant result at Notts County. Today was really tough and I thought the boys equipped themselves really well.
“I was disappointed in the end to concede the second goal because 1-0 was about right and we didn’t quite do enough to score.
“I think they deserved to win but I think we held our own and made it a game.”
On playing better football in the second 45
“Second half our football was very good and we had a little spell for 20 minutes where we were the better team.
“At the end, they wore us down. I was pleased that we stood up to the set pieces well, the long throw, the corners were coming in and we were heading them away.
“There are great learnings and I thought, by the end of the game, our football at times had been good.
“I’m always disappointed to lose, but I’m proud of the boys and the way they performed.”
On Joe Young’s display
“I thought he was very good. After 70 minutes he didn’t have a shot to save and I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way to him or Lincoln.
“I thought we managed them reasonably well but, as we tired as the game went on at 1-0 and we were pushing at the other end of the pitch, there were more gaps and he had to keep us in the game and he did.
“I thought he made two or three really good saves in the last 10 minutes. He was probably a bit unfortunate to concede the second goal because he deserved a clean sheet in the second half.”
On the benefits of the competition
“It’s really difficult to explain to supporters how much tougher these games are than our academy games are, where you’re equally matched physically and technically most of the time.
“They’re great experiences for our boys to manage that side of the game. I can’t recreate that in any of our games – the long throw coming in, the set pieces, they’ve never seen that before.
“This competition is brilliant for us, but they’re hard games and the next game’s going to be even harder – Derby County at Pride Park.
“The result can’t be the be all and end all in this competition for us because if it is, we’re always going to end up disappointed in the end. No under-21 team has ever won this tournament or got to the final of this tournament.
“We can be really proud of our performance in this competition so far. Our record is good and we will give our everything at Derby County to see if we can get through to the next round, but it will be a tough task.”
