Wolves youngster Leon Chiwome has admitted he really did not expect to play as many minutes as he did when he came on for his debut against Coventry City.
The 18-year-old was given the nod by Gary O’Neil during the club’s FA Cup quarter-final defeat to the Championship side at Molineux.
He replaced Nathan Fraser, who had struggled to get into the game, and gave a good account of himself.
It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Chiwome. After making his first-team debut for Wolves, he then scored a winning goal for the England U18s against the Netherlands in the final of the Pinatar Super Cup.
The club caught up with Chiwome this week, as he reflected on a fantastic period…
Leon Chiwome admits he did not expect to play as much as he did on debut for Wolves v Coventry
The 3-2 defeat to Coventry is still a bit of a sore one for a lot of Wolves fans.
Chiwome will be disappointed too that Wanderers couldn’t win the game and book a trip to Wembley – but it was still an immensely proud moment for the teenager making his debut.
He found himself on the bench, with senior stars Matheus Cunha, Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-chan all unavailable due to injury.
Chiwome was also on the bench against Fulham and the youngster has said that he was meant to come on in that game, but the plan changed when Wolves scored.
So his debut came in the quarter-final, and the starlet admits O’Neil surprised him by putting him on as early as he did.
He said (via Wolves Express): “I really didn’t expect to be on that early, especially at 60 minutes for a debut. It’s quite unheard of really, and it was quite a big shock. But I was always prepared. I’ve been physically fit and playing a lot of games recently so I knew I was going to be fine physically, it was just the mental side of things. Would I be able to cope for the 30 minutes, or even if it went to extra-time. That was the big thing.”
Chiwome did well
Chiwome may not have expected to get the call to play as early as he did against Coventry, but he certainly gave a good account of himself.
It cannot have been an easy game to come on in, with the stakes so high and Coventry playing better.
But it was a good performance from the youngster who put himself about and was a willing runner during his half-hour display.
Clearly, O’Neil has faith in the youngster to have put him on at 60 minutes.
Hopefully, he can now kick on and perhaps get some more minutes in the first-team, especially with Neto and Hwang out for the foreseeable.