Forest Green Rovers 0 Wolves U21s 2 (Ojinnaka 50, Holman 57)
Goals from Temple Ojinnaka and Fletcher Holman helped Wolves under-21s overcome Forest Green Rovers in the National League Cup on Wednesday evening.
In their final game of 2024, James Collins made two changes to his side that defeated Aston Villa under-21s last time out, with Hayden Carson and Leon Chiwome entering the starting 11 in place of Justin Hubner and Luke Rawlings.
It was a quiet start to the contest as both sides struggled to cope with the adverse weather conditions inside the opening 10 minutes, as the rain and wind played its part throughout the game.
The young Wolves side, however, did start to improve as the 20-minute mark approached. Makenzie Bradbury and Ty Barnett were both central to operations for Wolves gaining a foothold in the midfield, which allowed the team to start controlling the game.
Ojinnaka also helped overload the Forest Green midfield as he was drifting into central areas throughout the first half, enabling the away side to control the game against an experienced Forest Green outfit.
Chances started to come to fruition for Wolves with Chiwome coming close first. Fabian Reynolds picked up the ball on the right flank and drove towards the penalty area before cutting onto his left foot and picking out Chiwome, whose contested header missed the target.
Another good chance arose for Wolves on the 27th minute mark, this time through the middle after Barnett advanced the ball into Chiwome’s path, before he slid Holman through on goal, but his effort was saved well by Jamie Searle who managed to turn the ball around for a corner.
Following a good spell from Wolves during the mid-section of the half, the home side came back with a good chance themselves. In the 32nd minute, Christian Doidge found himself one-on-one with Lewys Benjamin at close-range, before firing a low effort towards the keeper, who palmed the effort to safety.
Half-time | Forest Green 0-0 Wolves U21s
Wolves emerged from the break the liveliest and got their reward soon after on the 50th minute. The ball was worked out to the left flank to Ethan Sutherland, before he perfectly picked out Ojinnaka, who headed home from close-range to open the scoring.
One became two just seven minutes later as Wolves gained themselves a cushion in the game. Holman got himself an early Christmas gift when he picked up a loose ball inside the Forest Green penalty area, before composing himself to finish into the bottom right corner.
Wolves started to purr and responded to their second goal with more of the same. They moved the ball round defence and midfield nicely, as Bradbury and Barnett continued to dominate the midfield battle.
The young Wolves side showed no sign of immaturity as they saw out an assured victory - complimented by a clean sheet – away to third place in the National League, to round-off 2024 with a win.
Full-time | Forest Green 0-2 Wolves U21s
LINEUPS
Forest Green | Searle, Lavinier, Tozer, Inniss (Wilson 46) (Marquez 75), Osadebe, Doidge (Conteh 77), Sercombe, Jenks (Bonnick 46), Quigley, Cardwell (Aldridge 25), Petrynski.
Subs not used | Long, Knowles.
Wolves | Benjamin, Ojinnaka, Sutherland, Voice, Mabete (White 83), Carson, Reynolds (Ashworth 71), Bradbury (Whittingham 81), Chiwome (Lopes 71), Barnett (Rawlings 83), Holman.
Subs not used | Amos, Angel.
Next Three
07/01 Rochdale (A) National League Cup
10/01 Blackburn (H) Premier League 2
14/01 Sheffield United (H) Premier League 2
Report by Callum Greybanks
