Wolves defender Nathan Collins came in for praise after playing for the Republic of Ireland last night.
The £20 million signing featured in defence for Stephen Kenny’s side, who are off to a good start in their Euro 2024 qualification campaign.
It was a narrow victory for Ireland and it wasn’t pretty.
But Kenny will take plenty of positives from the performance.
There were first international goals from Callum O’Dowda and Evan Ferguson.
But Roberts Uldrikis scored in style to get Latvia back into the contest, before Arturs Zjuzins levelled.
But Chiedozie Ogbene grabbed what turned out to be the winner with around half an hour to go.
The Irish Independent gave their player ratings after the game, and Wolves star Collins for given a 6/10 for his display. they said of him: “Handled experienced Latvian forward Gutkovskis well and cleared on several occasions with strong headers on his tenth successive start. Made a crucial late clearance to secure the win.”
He played the 90 minutes for Ireland, which is good to see. Former Ireland international Kenny Cunningham will have been relieved to see Collins playing. He recently expressed concern over his lack of minutes for Wolves.
It has been a tricky past few weeks for Collins back at Wolves, having lost his starting berth to Craig Dawson.
Julen Lopetegui’s faith in his new signing has been unwavering. And Max Kilman has also been a regular pick for the manager.
He has recently seen minutes again by coming on in games to form a back three.
But he hasn’t started a game now for Wolves since the clash with Manchester City in January. Wolves had signed Dawson just before that game, but hadn’t been able to register him in time.
A good outing for Nathan Collins with Ireland but struggle for minutes at Wolves likely to continue
This was a decent performance from Collins in the middle of a back three for his country.
But it arguably wasn’t one that is going to lead to him ousting Dawson back at Wolves.
Lopetegui really rates his new centre-back signing, and clearly feels his experience to the team is invaluable.
It is a shame for Collins, who had put in some solid performances just before Dawson’s arrival.
But things like this can happen, and it’s on him to work hard and become a regular starter again.
Lopetegui has shown he isn’t afraid to go to a back three. Perhaps right now, that is his best hope of starting games again for Wolves.