Dale’s under 18 side get their league campaign off to a start tomorrow with an away game against Accrington Stanley.
They team have had a positive pre-season after losing just once and striker Danny Whitehall is hoping they can carry that momentum into the game against Stanley.
He told Dale Player: “It’s hard at the start when you’ve got the new first years trying to settle in, but they’ve done really well and I think we’ve started to gel well together. We’ve had some good results during pre-season, obviously the one against Blackburn was a bit of a blip, but the rest of the results were good. I’ve also managed to get myself on the score sheet a few times and I’m looking forward to the first game on Saturday.”
Whitehall netted 15 times for the youth team last season, but he says he hasn’t set a target for the forthcoming campaign.
“I know it’s a cliché, but you’ve just got to take every game as it comes. As a striker you’re trying to score goals, but the most important thing is to win games and at this football club we want to win games the right way. At the end of the day all that matters is the result and hopefully we can have as good as season as last season and carry on from a good pre-season to get the right results in the right way.”
With the first years now settled in, the 17-year-old admits that there is a good camaraderie amongst the squad.
“We see each other every day and it is hard not to get along when it’s like that. The banter does fly, nothing too harsh though, and we all get along well, so hopefully that will show on the pitch as well.”
You can listen to the full interview with Danny on Dale Player.
Saturday's match against Accrington Stanley has a 10.30am kick-off. The game is being played at QEGS Playing Fields, Lammack Road, Blackburn, BB1 8LA.