Wolves youngsters look to beat another senior side in EFL Trophy

They are in action at Morecambe (7.45pm) after running out 4-2 victors at Carlisle last week.

A win at the Globe Arena would give them a great chance of advancing from Northern Group G – which also includes Blackpool – to the competition’s knockout stages, and assistant boss Sean Parrish said: “These are the games that give the lads that experience they want – playing against senior sides.

“We didn’t qualify from the group last year, but it was a great experience.

“This time around, we’ve won our first game 4-2 at Carlisle.

“It wasn’t a full-strength Carlisle team last week, but it was still full of players with a lot of league games under their belt.

“These are the experiences our young lads need.

“It’s a win-win situation for us, being in this competition, and we’re going up to Morecambe with no fear. We’ll go there with the right mentality.”

Someone who certainly had the right mindset at Carlisle was Benny Ashley-Seal.

The target man, who made a couple of first-team appearances in the Carabao Cup last season, scored a hat-trick at Brunton Park. Tsun-Dai got the other.

He then took that momentum into last Friday, netting in the league against Southampton in a 2-1 defeat for Wolves’ youngsters.

“That’s what you’ve got to do as there’ll be a lot of people watching these Trophy games,” said Parrish.

“We have to put our lads on show, so they can go on to play first-team football – for us or elsewhere. It’s about development.

“Ashley is known to people because of his involvement with the first team last year.

“He then had a loan spell in Portugal (at Famalicao) and didn’t have as much game time as he would’ve liked, and then had a rough time with illness at the start of this season.

“But he’s got himself a hat-trick against a league side, albeit not their strongest team, so he’s done himself no harm at all.

“He’s a big player for us, but hopefully he can use these games to maybe get a loan in January and continue his development.”

Wolves U21s go into this clash without two key players.

Meritan Shabani suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury and Bruno Jordao did his ankle ligaments for the first team against Reading last week.

However, Dion Sanderson and Taylor Perry should be involved after they also missed the Carlisle encounter because of being called up for the Royals tie.

“That’s football. It changes one day to the next and throws up challenges,” added Parrish.

“You’ve got to make sure you’re always ready. For all the lads we’ve got available now, although there will be inconsistency with young players, it’s about getting into that starting XI and doing everything to stay there.”