Eastwood eager to get up and running

Aug 15 2007 By Paul Berry, Birmingham Mail

FREDDY Eastwood will tonight hope to recapture his love affair with the Carling Cup and prove his Wolves career is up and running.

Eastwood, who has been playing catch-up over the summer following an end-of-season back injury, will make his Wolves debut in the Carling Cup clash with Bradford as boss Mick McCarthy rings the changes among his competitive squad.

A goal within 7.7 seconds, as produced on his Southend debut, might just be too much to ask, but the explosive 23-year-old will at least be able to call on some happy Carling Cup memories thanks to the spectacular free-kick which accounted for Manchester United in the competition last season.

"There are some good memories for me in this competition. I had some really good games last year and hopefully it will be the same again," said Eastwood, set for an international debut with Wales next week against Bulgaria.

"It doesn't get much better than scoring the winner against Manchester United." he said.

"It will be nice for me to get out there and get started. I was disappointed not to play against Watford on Saturday but I'm probably not sharp enough to be starting as big a game as that.

"I'll go out tonight and try and prove I deserve a place in the starting team.

"I've been doing extra training but that last bit of sharpness only really comes from playing games and hopefully scoring goals."

Eastwood is likely to be joined by the likes of loan keeper Graham Stack, Rob Edwards, Jody Craddock, Karl Henry and Stephen Gleeson in the starting line-up, all of whom will be looking to impress.. New signing Kevin Foley is also likely to make his debut at right-back.

But manager Mick McCarthy has stressed it is far from a Wolves second string, and he is keen to see off the League Two visitors and make progress in the competition.

"We're not taking this game lightly and want to win, even more so with having started our league campaign with a defeat against Watford," he said.

WOLVES (from): Stack, Hennessey, Foley, Craddock, N. Collins, D. Ward, Edwards, Gray, Mulgrew, Kightly, Olofinjana, Potter, Henry, Gleeson, S. Ward, Bennett, Keogh, Elliott, Eastwood, Bothroyd.

BRADFORD (from): Ricketts, Williams, Heckingbottom, Evans, Weatherall, Bower, Daley, Johnson, Conlon, Rhodes, Ndumbu-Nsumgu, Saynor, Colbeck, Ainge, Phelan. Joynes.