PDP Lead Coach Chris Brown discusses the Youth Team’s 3-0 win over Fleetwood Town, their first points of the season…
“We’ve been needing a positive performance,” Brown told iFollow.
“The lads know that the standards weren’t up to scratch in the last two games that we’ve played, and today was a much improved performance.
“The energy levels that we got, the demands that they put on themselves and the quality levels that they showed were superb, especially from Fabio Tavares, who scored three goals. His overall end product was excellent and I’m really, really happy for him.
“He set a standard and a tempo, and he set everyone else off. It was really pleasing to watch, and we needed that as a team.
“I was really, really pleased overall.”
He continued: “The application straight from the whistle was aggressive. The players wanted to get the ball back quickly, there was composure on the ball and there was intensity to our play – it was everything that we’ve been wanting from the lads.
“And it was a team performance. We need the team to perform to the levels that we and the club expect, and they did that today.
“We need to progress on from today, because this is the minimum standard that we require. We need to make sure that we’re building on these performances and getting better and better. We’re going to continue working hard so we can build on this performance.”
Several under-16 players (and younger) have been involved since the start of the season, which is also pleasing for Brown and the youth set-up.
“The younger boys are in training everyday with us while they’re off school, so they’re getting themselves integrated quite well.
“When they’ve had good performances, it comes quite naturally. It’s not like we’ve got an under 16 under-performing, they’re sometimes actually out-performing the youth team players. On Saturday, Sam Kilner and Brad Kelly’s performances were good even although we didn’t play well.
“Then when you bring players back into the squad like Brad Wade who has been with the first team it sets a standard and the rest of the players meet that. It’s encouraging to get them on the pitch because we need to give them as much of a taste of the environment as we can so they’re ready and know what youth team football is like. It’s much, much different from under-16 football and it’s very encouraging that they’ve played really well.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.