PDP Lead Coach Chris Brown is pleased with how the Youth Team is progressing…
Dale’s under 18s won their first league game of the season last week, beating Fleetwood Town 3-2, and Brown believes there has been a good progress made since the start of the campaign.
“I’m pleased with that result and overall it was a positive day, especially with some of the lads having played in a behind closed doors game with the first team, which then allowed some of our other lads to get good minutes under their belt.
“A win is a win, and we had some good spells and scored some good goals, which is something we’ve been working on. There are still things from the performance that we need to brush up on, but we’ll look to use it as a stepping stone to build on as we prepare for our next game, which is away at Carlisle [on Saturday 22nd September].”
He continued: “Getting to knowing each other wasn’t going to happen overnight, it’s something that takes time, but I feel as though the lads [the first and the second years] are moulding together.
“The first years are settling well into the squad, whilst the likes of Dan, Florian, Fabio, are continuing to progress. Everyone is coming together as a team, which is good. It’s becoming a collective which is what we want, especially with the integration of the younger boys.
“I think the pre-season trip to Holland helped, and once they win, they feel better about themselves, so we’ll look to keep the energy going, as well as the positiveness and the unity, as we go into this weekend’s game at Carlisle.”