James Collins has hailed the performance of his players, as Wolves under-21s defeated Notts County in the EFL Trophy.
Goals in each half from Owen Hesketh and Nathan Fraser secured three points on matchday one for the Old Gold, who started their group stage with a victory. Head coach Collins has spoken about the mental and physical resilience shown by his group, highlighting the importance of being able to stand up to the test when coming up against Football League and senior opposition.
On the performance
“I thought it was excellent. I still spoke to them at the end about doing better on the ball if they want to become Premier League footballers.
“I think it’s 23% of under-21 teams that win in this competition – that’s one in four. For us to come here and win is tough. Our record’s better than that which I’m proud of, I have to say.
“To come and win at Football League clubs, young players have to come and do things they’re not used to doing, which is to compete, fight, head it, clear it, block and last the 90 minutes which is hard at their young age.
“I thought they did that brilliantly tonight. The last two minutes were a little bit hairy but I thought Notts County deserved that, to get a goal after the pressure they’d had. We saw it out and I’m delighted we did.”
On the preparation for the game
“We prepare the same but it’s a different challenge. What Notts County are isn’t a typical League One or Two team. They play excellent football, very fluid tactically and we knew they would do some clever tactical things on the pitch.
“It was probably a bit of a different game, but you also know you’re playing against men who get the ball in the box, cross it and compete.
“Maybe under-21 football is much more technical. This is definitely a mental and physical test when you come to these places. I thought we stood up to that really well today.”
On the two goals
“I thought the two goals were magnificent goals and real high-quality goals.
“Owen’s (Hesketh) got himself goals from midfield and it’s always been his strength. We spoke to him this year about him having a good year to get his career going.
“I thought his performance tonight was as good as I’ve seen him do for us – he looked ready for league football.
“Nathan (Fraser) is flying at the minute. Before he hit it, I thought ‘goal’. That’s the hard work he puts in everyday to improve.
“It isn’t a fluke. It’s a great message for me to deliver to the other players that the player who’s doing the best for us at the moment is one of the hardest workers.
“The last one was Joe Hodge, the one before that Hugo Bueno. They’re the hardest workers and it’s not a coincidence. The ones who see that quicker is the ones who get there quicker.
“Owen Farmer has always worked his socks off. He had a slow start to this season because he had a bit of a broken pre-season but he’s starting to look a bit more like it – assisting and scoring which is what the job is.”
On the EFL Trophy
“This is the hardest group we’ve ever been in. Derby County are a big football club, Notts County here tonight you’ve seen it’s a club on the up and Lincoln did really well in this competition last season.
“It’s going to be a really tough group to get out of and for us to win at these places, but we’ve started well.
“It’s a great competition for us to be in because for most of our players, their first taste of senior football will be a loan.
“A, you’ve got to get one because people have to want you and nights like this help that and secondly, you’ve got to be able to show you can handle the physical and mental side of it.
“Nights like tonight give our players the opportunity to show they can and the majority of them tonight did.”
