With head coach James Collins on first team duty alongside Steve Davis, under-16s lead coach Sharps and elite player development manager Darren Ryan were in the dugout as Wolves were beaten 5-0 at Liverpool in PL2 on Saturday afternoon. And although Sharps was pleased with the display in the opening 45 minutes, he admitted the final scoreline was tough to take and one the team need to get out of their system quickly.
On the 90 minutes
“I was really pleased until about 70 minutes and then I thought we capitulated a little bit towards the end - we stopped what we were doing well earlier on in the game.
“The first three goals are individual mistakes to a degree and you can’t afford to give top teams like Liverpool chances like we did.
“I came in at half-time and told the lads we were doing well, but unfortunately were 1-0 down.
“The scoreline was the reflection of the game but if you look at the performance going into half-time, we were really pleased with it.”
On not taking advantage while on top
“It was a difficult one to take at half-time but the lads came out in the second half and really dug in. In the first 10 or 15 minutes, I thought we were doing well and just needed to score that goal, but it just didn’t happen.
“A couple of mistakes led to two and three and I thought it was a poor last 20 minutes on our part.
“When you get into those spaces, we have to take those chances. Goals change games massively and we just didn’t manage to do anything in front of goal.”
On the heavy scoreline
“Football’s cruel. Everyone will look at that scoreline and say 5-0 is a good thumping and we can’t change that now.
“I didn’t go too much into it tactically after the game because it’s always good to reflect, watch the game back and then give your views after, rather than when emotions are running high.
“The lads were really down in the changing room; they felt a little bit embarrassed at the end and I did as well.
“The scoreline isn’t nice to take but the lads on a whole have done well this season. This is one game we need to bounce back from quickly.”
On stepping into the breach
“It’s all hands to the pump at the moment. Everyone has been very supportive and helped each other – the lads, to be fair, have trained magnificently all week.
“Obviously, we hope things like this are resolved quickly as continuity is key for the lads. It’s a great opportunity for myself to start with, to gain experience at this level.
“I’m the 16s coach originally and my first ever group had Ollie (Tipton), Tyler (Roberts) and Kam (Kandola) so I know them quite well and I know the characters within the group.
“We’ve pushed them during the week and tested them. Hopefully, long-term, it helps but we obviously still need to do better than we did today.”
