Gr-eight way for Wolves' pups to warm up for cup

How best to warm up for an FA Youth Cup tie at Molineux? How about an 8-0 thrashing of the league leaders?

Wolves' academy prospects dished out the rout to Everton at the Merseyside club's Finch Farm base on Saturday – the perfect precursor to the third round cup clash against MK Dons, now rescheduled for Monday at 7pm.

"Some of our counter attacking was phenomenal," enthused under-18 boss Jerry Gill.

"I've been involved in a lot of under-18 and under-21 fixtures but that was by far the best one.

"Everton are no mugs, they're top of the league. And they've got this resilience, a scouse mentality I call it, where they never give up. And they never did, even at 8-0 they were still having a go but we were so effective with and without the ball.

"Obviously the eight goals were a shock but the performance wasn't a surprise. Praise should go to Kenny Jackett, Joe Gallen and Scott Sellars because these lads are getting the opportunity to go up (to train with senior players) and that enhances their development massively."

The likes of Bright Enobakhare, Niall Ennis and Connor Ronan, who have all trained with the first team and regularly play for the under-21s, are expected to feature tomorrow as Gill plots an FA Youth Cup run.

A recent league game against Middlesbrough was staged at Molineux to prepare the youngsters for playing in the stadium.

Wolves won an excellent contest 1-0 and Gill hopes it has prepared his players.

"Some made mistakes in their preparation during the day, not big ones just little ones, but that will help them learn for this game. It was a really good advert for under-18s football. That set us up really nicely and hopefully showcased us to a few of the fans. There's so much good work going on and I've been fortunate enough to inherit this group – they're learning really quickly, and have had a lot of really good coaching development."

Former Blues defender Gill moved from a similar academy role at Norwich when he joined Wolves in July. It hasn't taken him long to buy into and help implement the Wolves philosophy which runs through the academy system, headed up by Gareth Prosser.

He added: "It's something the club take a real pride in – wanting to play out, initiate attacks from the back, play through, play a progressive possession game, making sure we're going somewhere with the ball, and defending resolutely.

"I have a meeting with the first team staff every day at 9am. I don't see that happening at many clubs around the country."

No stone is left unturned in a bid to produce those future stars, with statistical analysis used as extensively as it is by Jackett & Co.

Players are set six-week targets which can be tactical, technical or social, on subjects as varied as using a weaker foot more often or completing their education tasks.

With such a big investment of time and money, Gill knows there is pressure to produce talent.

"It's no good the under-18s winning and there being no players going through to the first team, that's not not going to be acceptable," he said.

"I embrace that pressure. I'm really enjoying it and am hoping to improve every day to get those players through." Gill is hoping for a good turnout at Molineux. So what can people expect to see from his team?

"You'll see we've got technically gifted players, competent in possession who can attack with real pace and power," Gill said. "It's ready for the players to put on a show. But if there's any weakness in their mentality you can get a kick up the backside in the FA Youth Cup. I've seen it before. I'm hoping we're in the hat as it'd be nice to have a run."

The game was due to take place tonight but has been rescheduled after a bad weather warning. It will now kick-off at 7pm on Monday at Molineux.

Entry is £4 for adults and £1 concessions.