CUP EXIT BUT HORVATH IMPRESSES HUGHTON
DEFEAT BUT IMPORTANT LESSONS IN CUP EXIT
A YOUTHFUL Nottingham Forest side saw their Carabao Cup run ended by Wolverhampton Wanderers, as they fell 4-0 at the City Ground.
The visitors fielded a strong squad for the second round tie, and piled the pressure on from the off.
The Reds gave a good account of themselves and held firm amid oneway traffic until the hour mark.
But two goals in two minutes from Romain Saiss and Daniel Podence put Wolves in command, with Francisco Trincao and Morgan Gibbswhite adding to the scoreline in the final minutes.
Here’s what Reds boss Chris Hughton had to say at the final whistle:
■■What’s your overriding emotion after the game?
“I’m incredibly proud of a young group of players who would have been excited, and maybe a little bit fearful, when they saw the team Wolves were going to put out.
“They would have learnt from the previous round, albeit against different opposition.
“As soon as you saw that team, you knew it was going to be a very, very tough night.
“It’s the type of game where if you concede early, it could be a bad night.
“We had to rely on Ethan to pull out some good saves – he was excellent tonight.
“Probably the only disappointment was I thought we gifted them two of the goals. Without them, it would have been an incredibly respectable result for a team that had seven academy lads playing.
“We held them for an hour. The only disappointment is we gave away two soft goals.”
■■Is Ethan Horvath pushing Brice Samba for a place?
“I am seeing some good competition from Ethan – from both games he has played and in training.”
■■Can these young players learn more from a game like this, in defeat, than they did against Bradford City in the first round?
“Yes, they can.
“I’d have to say, I am prouder tonight than I was after the first game (in the cup). All due respects to Bradford, it’s a different level. “Bradford were a side who sat off and allowed us to have really good possession in the first half.
“Tonight, any possession we had, we had to really work for.
“I’m prouder on this one. I think the players will learn immensely from it and will certainly know you can’t afford to make the mistakes we did for a couple of the goals.
“All due respect to Bradford, they are probably mistakes we might have got away with in that game, but we certainly wouldn’t in this one.”
■■What have you made of the progress the young players have made since the summer?
“My job is always to get that balance right between a performance today, and a performance week in, week out in the Championship.
“The Championship is a very ruthless division, and you have very good teams in there.
“That’s always the balance with young players.
“Some have been involved through necessity. But you always want young players to earn the right to be there.”
■■Some of them might have been in contention to go out on loan if they weren’t involved with the first-team – how do you balance that against them continuing to make progress?
“At the minute we need them here. “But also, because we are a Cat 1 academy now, the good thing is - for those who are not around the firstteam – they are going to be playing in a better level of Under-23 games.
“That can also add to their development.”
■■Fin Back has played quite a few games recently, what have you made of his progress?
“I’ve been delighted with him.
“He’s been thrown in. Sometimes when that happens, you see the best of players. He’s still got a lot of development to come and still needs to learn in some areas.
“But there can’t be anything better for his development than playing these types of games, with the pressure which comes with it.”
■■Was it important to get James Garner involved immediately after coming in?
“Yes. Although he’s been involved in games at Manchester United, he hasn’t had the full 90-minute games that most have had.
“It was really important he got that, and he gave a good account of himself.”
■■Are you still hopeful of more signings?
“We still need more signings – from where we were last season and the amount of players who left in the summer. We would of course like them in as quickly as possible but it’s quite obvious a squad which needs more bodies.”