Wolves 2 (Holman 73, 89) Stoke City 2 (Vidigal 34, Walker 47)
Wolves under-21s fought back from two goals down to earn a point against Stoke City on Friday night.
Advancing on from Monday’s victory over Burnley, James Collins’ side remain unbeaten in the league after batting back to earn a point from their first home game of the season.
In a game of two very different halves of football, Wolves showed their maturity and resilience to come back with Fletcher Holman securing a brace in the fixture.
Olagunji’s brave defending cancelled out Andre Vidigal from advancing any further into the Wolves penalty area in the early exchanges.
The hosts first glance at goal was fired over by Luke Rawlings, after Fletcher Holman’s ball fired across the box into the midfielder.
Mateus Mane was next to try and give the Old Gold the lead, but his strike narrowly missed the post on the thirty-minute mark.
Despite Wolves’ attacking promise, Vidigal gave the visitors the lead when he found the bottom corner.
Collins’ team showed persistence when Ty Barnett forced Noah Cooper into a low-diving save after his attempt on goal from a set-piece.
However, Walker doubled City’s advantage shortly into the second half with a powerful finish past Gracey.
Wolves had a lifeline in the 71st minute when Holman was hacked down at the back post – the number nine instantly picked up the ball after the referee blew his whistle for a spot kick.
Cooper denied the initial strike from 12 yards, but Holman made no mistake on the rebound to reduce the deficit.
Jake Griffin was shown a straight red card after the initial foul on Holman, which made the task even harder for Wolves with the visitors playing in a disciplined low block.
Cooper was pivotal to keeping Wolves at bay with the home side testing the goalkeeper to the maximum.
However, it was the late show again for Wolves when Holman calmly slotted the ball past the onrushing Cooper to make the game all square once again.
Momentum had switched and Stoke were hanging on as Collins’ side progressed further to push and gain all three points but could not find the third goal they needed.
LINE UPS
Wolves | Gracey, Lima (Sutherland 46), Olagunju, Okoduwa, Pond (Ojinnaka, 61) Rawlings, Mane, Griffiths, Holman, Barnett (Edozie 61), Lembikisa.
Unused subs | Bradbury, Voice.
Stoke City | Cooper, Dixon, Talovierov (Gyimah 75), Griffin, Giani, Kelly, Curley, Chibueze, André Vidigal (Otegbayo 71), Maskall (Matondo 75), Walker (Kyremeh 75).
Unused subs | Clothier.
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Written by Thomas Gibson
