5 min read
18th Jan 2024
James Collins has hailed the defensive resilience of his side which earned the 10-men of Wolves under-21s an all-important point in the International Cup.
A goalless draw with Hertha Berlin at the New Bucks Head was enough for the Old Gold to progress into the quarter-final of the competition – the first time Wolves have qualified for the knockout stages. The hosts were dealt an early blow when goalkeeper Jimmy Storer was shown a straight red card after just seven minutes, but head coach Collins saw his team defend manfully to claim a point and he believes the players got what they deserved for their heroic efforts.
On securing a point with 10 men
“It was an incredibly tough game 11 v 11. They had some strong players who’d played in the Bundesliga, there were a lot of appearances on their teamsheet.
“We knew they were a good side and I actually said to the players before that this would be our hardest game of the season.
“To go down to 10 men after seven minutes with the goalkeeper going off was then going to be an even more extremely difficult night on a really tough pitch which was icing over all the time against a really good team.
“Did we play well with the ball? No. Even with 10 men I was disappointed with our football at times because we didn’t string enough passes even with 10 men. Did we show heart, did we show spirit, did we show courage, did we get in the way of things second half, blocking and players throwing themselves in front of things? Yes, and you’ve got to learn to do that if you want to play Premier League or Football League football.
“It was a great learning night for us and a learning night for the players. We’ve got players in there who didn’t think they were going to get through the 90 minutes.
“We knew we needed a point to top the group and qualify. If we’d have lost the game, we probably wouldn’t have qualified because others in the group could get to nine. It was a game on the knife-edge and to come out on top and, by the end, I didn’t think they were going to score. That’s credit to the boys’ effort and work.”
On Lewys Benjamin’s performance
“I thought he was magnificent. He was courageous, came for crosses, swept up behind our high line and I thought we did very well with the high line because we knew it would skid through on the icy surface.
“He made three of four really good saves – saves I’d expect him to make but he did make them and made them really well. His kicking was decent for the majority, although he’s got to work on that.
“For a young goalkeeper going into that environment with ultras behind the goal screaming at him, I thought he held his nerve brilliantly.”
On progressing into the knockout stages
“I think it’s the first time in the history of the competition we’ve got through to the knockout stages of this competition because it’s so tough.
“To go unbeaten in the group against Hertha Berlin, PSV Eindhoven, Sparta Prague and Nice is a great achievement.
“It doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but you have to put yourself in the picture and put yourself out there to play in the big games.
“If you play well in the big games then managers notice you, league managers notice you and our manager notices you.
“They’ve given themselves a chance now, got to the quarter-finals and hopefully we can get a really good game, hopefully at Molineux and get a good crowd there.”
On players coming back into the team
“It was on show tonight. Four or five of our lads haven’t played 90 minutes for a long long while. Tippo (Oliver Tipton) and Alfie (Pond) have been on loan and it hasn’t quite worked out for them on loan so they’ve come back.
“It’s hard to suddenly play that amount of football against a good team without the games in your legs, so they got through it well.
“Same with Ty (Barnett) whose been injured and hasn’t played a lot this year and got through the game well physically well I thought.
“Tawanda (Chirewa) is the same. He’s been with the first-team and not played a lot obviously so he got through his minutes well.
“Our work ethic was brilliant, our team spirit was brilliant. We rode our luck in the first half when we first went down to 10, they could’ve scored and then it could’ve got interesting. It would’ve been difficult, but we got through that stage.
“In the end, we saw it out well. I’m not suggesting it was a wonderful performance but from a team spirit and character point of view, it was.”