Collins praises Cundle and Campbell in Wolves U23 defeat

Wolves Under 23s lost 3-1 in the Papa John’s Trophy to Shrewsbury last night.

The match was an opportunity for James Collins’ side to test themselves against senior opposition.

Shrewsbury are second bottom of League 1, but their experience and physicality made the difference in the end.

Collins told the club website after the game that the performances of Chem Campbell and Luke Cundle stood out to him.

“I was delighted with them really. I’m frustrated because we could have got something out of the game,” he said.

“But we know when we bring a young group to this competition, as young as we’re bringing, that can happen, so I can’t moan about it afterwards.

“I thought we played some brilliant football, Cundle was excellent, Chem was excellent, Owen Hesketh did very well, Hodnett, in patches, Dexter at left-back as a young kid coped brilliantly.

“Many positives and that’s why we’re in this competition, there’s just frustration of not getting anything out of the game because overall, we probably deserved to, but the physicality wore us down in the end.”

Campbell, 18, and Cundle, 19, are arguably the two biggest talents coming through the ranks at Wolves.

Last night was another opportunity for them to test themselves against senior players.

They clearly both performed well to draw such praise from their manager, as well as the teammates mentioned too.

Wolves need to beat Crewe in their final group match to have any chance to progression, but they have won both their matches so far and sit top of the table.

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