Owen Farmer stole headlines yesterday, after hitting a hat-trick for the U18s against Tottenham Hotspur.
The striker bagged himself the match ball atter scoring three times against Spurs, with all his goals coming in the first-half in the Premier League Cup match.
Assistant coach James McPike was taking charge of the team, with Steve Davis currently with the first-team following the sacking of Bruno Lage.
Davis will be working with the first-team while Wolves officials appoint a new manager. After the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea though, David did suggest he’d like to continue working with the first-team.
So McPike is taking the U18s at least for now, and it was a good first outing under him on Saturday.
Farmer gave Wolves the lead after 10 minutes, showing good predatory instincts in the box to head home a Josh Esen cross.
Farmer doubled Wolves’ lead shortly after, volleying brilliantly into the top corner with his left foot
He then grabbed his third from the penalty spot, meaning a perfect hat-trick in the space of just 24 minutes.
Unfortunately, Wolves’ would relinquish their commanding lead in the second-half.
Mikey Moore pulled one back for the hosts, and then substitute Will Lankshear hit a brace and the spoils were ultimately shared at Hotspur Way.
Speaking afterwards, McPike said (via Wolves official): “It’s really hard on the Saturday afternoon to park the game and the emotion, as it felt like we’d lost the game.
“However, from a development point of view, we got four under-16s on the pitch, were bringing first years on and second years off to manage them.”
McPike also put in a positive word for Farmer, who is one of the club’s brightest propects.
“He works his socks off in the week, does extra work and he’ll even pull the analyst on a Friday afternoon for some clips about hold-up play.
“After the session on Friday, he’ll want me to hit some balls into him to work on some hold-up play. Low and behold, on a Saturday his hold-up is really good.
“He scored a header, a left-foot finish and a right-foot finish – the perfect hat-trick. It’s a credit to his work rate and his work ethic.
“He needs to continue with those standards, not be comfortable and keep pushing the boundary of what he’s capable of.”
Owen Famer making a name for himself at Wolves as youngster nets U18s hat-trick against Tottenham
A perfect hat-trick for the Wolves U18s in the space of just 24 minutes is certainly impressive going from Owen Farmer.
It is great to see him banging in the goals.
The club have high hopes about Farmer, who joined the academy when he was 14.
A year ago, Farmer made it onto The Guardian’s ‘Next Generation 2021’ list, which included all the top young talents to watch out for at Premier League clubs.
He has started the new season really well in front of goal, and is going the right way about eventually earning a professional contract.