Wolves striker Nathan Fraser getting 'extra motivation' from Gary O'Neil's Molineux support

The Ireland youth international headed in Wolves under-21’s second goal of the game in an impressive 2-1 victory against International Cup holders PSV.

Fraser, who was promoted to fourth choice striker for the first team this season, made an impression with boss O'Neil in attendance at Molineux.

"I knew that Gary was here and a few of the other first team people were here and it does give you a bit of extra motivation because you want to impress him," Fraser said.

"But you don’t want to let it affect your game and put you off, so I just kind of had it in the back of my head.

“It affects my game a little bit but you don’t want it to change the way you play.”

The 18-year-old has made just two competitive first-team appearances for the Premier League outfit which both came in the Carabao Cup, where he scored on his debut in the win over Blackpool.

“I want to play with the first team as much as possible but you never know what’s going to happen, or when the opportunity might come, so for me I just want to keep working hard," Fraser added.

Kam Kandola scored the opening goal on Monday night, before fellow Wolverhampton-born prospect Fraser headed home the second.

“I knew I was playing well but I just wanted to score cause I knew that if I had to go off before the game finished and I hadn’t scored then I wouldn’t have really been happy going home," the striker said.

“So I just knew that at least once I scored, I could go home and have a good day.”

Fraser’s link-up and hold-up play throughout the tie was exceptional and he himself had recognised this, labelling it 'one of the most important parts' of his overall game.

He added: “For me it’s probably one of the most important parts of my game, because obviously as a striker you want to score but if you want to get into the Wolves first team at a Premier League level my hold-up and input play has gotta be very good as well.”

Under-21s boss James Collins is a big admirer of Fraser, having previously described him as a 'dream' to work with.

“He’s a great example – I feel like I say the same thing every time I’ve asked about Nathan," Collins said.

“Two years ago he was middle of the group, an average middle of the group young footballer that if you said to me what’s he going be, where’s he going end up, I’d have probably said lower league possibly, maybe even non-league!

“He was in at 7am Sunday morning, you drive in and you think you’re first in but he’s there before you and he’s benefitting from that.

“All of a sudden he looks a better player, his hold-up play is better, his finishing is better, he’s robust because he’s doing the work and all of a sudden you get a player on your hands who everybody’s after."