3/1 To Win
Justin Walker was “delighted” with Derby County U18s result against away at Wolverhampton Wanderers as they came back from a goal behind to salvage a point late on after going down to ten men early in the second-half.
Derby went into the second-half a goal behind after Conor Carty put the home side ahead inside ten minutes.
However, things got worse for the Young Rams early in the second-half as captain, Eiran Cashin was shown a straight red for a rash challenge.
After going a man down, Derby regrouped and piled on the pressure and it was Festy Ebosele who found the breakthrough late on. The Irishman was brought down in the box, before converting from the penalty spot to retrieve a point for Young Rams.
After the full-time whistle, Manager Walker spoke about how pleased he was to get a result after a lacklustre first-half.
Walker stated: “I’m absolutely delighted with the result considering the performance levels weren’t great, and our energy levels weren’t great in the first half.”
“The lads deserved a lot of credit for the last half an hour I thought we really dug in and I think you have to stay in the game at times and ride your luck and we did that.”
Walker felt that going down to ten men held significance in what helped drive the team on to get back into the game.
“I knew it was probably going to take something to get us going and particularly when (Eiran) Cashin makes the decision he makes and we go down to ten, it’s a little more difficult, but I thought that was the thing that was instrumental in us showing a little more personality and character to hang in there and ultimately come-back.”
Walker also touched on how the away trip to Salzburg in the UEFA Youth League was a test for the young players.
“That’s the challenge for the young lads to be out on the road, travelling, the emotion of getting beat in Salzburg and that’s the end of a fantastic journey for us. We only really had one day of recovery for that as well.”
He continued: “I’m delighted with the fact we’ve found a way to take something away from today and we’ll look forward to the next game”
Words by Jack Beighton.
