Wolves debrief: A dream debut and momentum maintained with Cup success

However the rest of Saheed Olagunju’s professional career pans out, he’ll have worse nights than this.

The 19-year-old scored and helped Wolves keep a clean sheet as they cruised into the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Handed a first career start by Cesar Peixoto, the centre-back did not let his head coach down.

Dream debut

Olagunju later admitted to having felt nervous during the opening 10 minutes, though watching him you would never have guessed it.

The goal ensured he got the headlines but even without it, this was an assured performance and like all the best defenders, he claimed to be happiest about the clean sheet.

At around 6ft 4ins tall (even he’s not entirely sure about the precise measurement), Olagunju already has the physique of a senior player, while he also showed a nice turn of pace when required.

This was only one performance and no-one should be getting carried away. But as debuts go, he could not have done much better. Whether his short-term future lies at Molineux or elsewhere is unclear but after Tuesday, there will be no shortage of loan suitors.

Momentum maintained

The Carabao Cup is clearly a distant second when it comes to Wolves’ priorities at this point of the season.

Yet the wins already secured in the competition should not be overlooked when it comes to rebuilding confidence in a squad which went through the whole of last season rarely tasting victory. For context, it took Wolves until January to win their third match of last term.

Peixoto can also take great heart at the commitment shown by a much-changed XI from the one which started last Saturday’s win at Preston.

It is very likely some of those players who featured at Hillsborough won’t be Wolves players this time next week but whatever their motivation, there could be no quibbling with the effort. Early days it might be but there seems a decent spirit about the group.

Bigger tests ahead

It was probably lost a little in translation when Peixoto remarked after the match there were “too many” matches in the season but you won’t find too many of his Championship counterparts who disagree.

Tuesday night was Wolves’ first midweek outing of the campaign and after a relatively gentle start, with two out of four matches against lower league opposition, things are about to ramp up.

Saturday’s visit of Stoke kicks off a run of seven matches in 22 days, six of them in the league, culminating in the first Black Country Derby of the season on September 20.

While relatively pleased by what he has seen so far, Peixoto knows more will be required if Wolves are to challenge near the top half of the table. The importance of these next few days in the transfer window cannot be overstated.

Whether off the field or on it, we won’t have to wait too much longer for a clearer idea of where this campaign might be heading.