James Collins’ side have lost just once in 2022 and are currently on a four-game winning run, which culminated in Monday’s dominant 4-0 thrashing of West Bromwich Albion in the latest Black Country derby.
Lee Harkin’s opening brace for the under-23s, combined with a Christian Marques header and Joe Hodge’s first goal in gold and black in only his second appearance for Wolves following his move from Manchester City in the summer.
The development side have also overcome the challenges posed by Reading, Birmingham City and Sunderland in recent months, as they moved into the Division 2 play-off places with just seven league matches left to play.
But with the first-team set to get their Premier League match with Leeds United underway just minutes after full-time at Aggborough on Friday evening, Collins might not have some of the senior members of his recent line-ups available.
Having played out a goalless draw with Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, Wolves' opponents arrive into Kidderminster in the middle of an inconsistent spell, having picked up just two wins since the start of the calendar year.
The young Villans sit two points but four places behind Wolves in the Division 2 table, albeit having played two more matches than the old gold, following last week’s 2-2 draw with Southampton.
Kicking off at 6pm, Wolves season ticket holders can watch Wolves under-23’s home matches for free by producing their season ticket smartcards at the turnstiles on arrival.
For non-season ticket holders, admission is priced at £4 for adults, £2 for concessions and it’s free for under-16s, although under-16s will need to process a ticket to be scanned at the turnstile by clicking here. Tickets should be purchased in advance of the match.
If assistance is needed in obtaining a ticket, please call 01562 823931 or email shop@harriers.co.uk.
Due to the first-team’s Premier League match with Leeds United also taking place on Friday evening, the usual Wolves TV coverage will not be available for this under-23 fixture.
WHEN
Friday, 6pm
WHERE
Aggborough Stadium, Kidderminster
LAST THREE
Wolves
4-0 vs West Bromwich Albion (A)
1-0 vs Wigan Athletic (A) PLC
4-3 vs Reading (H)
Aston Villa
2-2 vs Southampton (H)
1-2 vs Fulham (A)
2-0 vs Norwich City (H)
WHAT THE BOSS THINKS
Having described his side’s display against West Brom earlier in the week as the ‘complete performance’, Collins believes his squad can build on their successful 2022, despite expecting some of his usual squad members to join up with the first-team clash with Leeds United at Molineux.
“It will be a different team on Friday [against Aston Villa] because the first-team are playing at the same time, so we’ll have some of the others back in, which is brilliant for them.
“Other than the Exeter game, which was almost a dead-rubber, we’re unbeaten in a while and have won four league games on the trot now. We’re on a good run and it’s a good time in the season to win games and get yourselves into play-off contention.
“But more important than that was the performance. If we’d have lost that unfortunately 1-0 tonight, I’d still have walked out here and been delighted, because I thought we were magnificent.”
NEXT FIVE
18/03 Aston Villa (H)
25/03 Southampton (A)
01/04 Nottingham Forest (A)
10/04 Peterborough United (A) PLC
15/04 Middlesbrough (A)
