Sam Rose was pleased with the performance his under 18s side put in against Hartlepool in their 2-2 draw, admitting that it was a vast improvement.
The Brewers, without key man Joe Sbarra who was with the first team squad, came away with a well won point from their long trip north thanks to goals from Jack Hallahan and Cam Shaw.Despite seeing his side win their cup game against Walsall in their previous game Rose had been critical of his team’s performance, however, he praised the young Brewers’ showing against Hartlepool.
“It was really good and the standard of performance across the whole team was high. We are disappointed not to win; I think we created enough chances to win but so did Hartlepool, it was just a really good game of football, we did a bit of homework and on them and, even though we didn’t get a win, it was a really positive afternoon.
“The standard of performance right across the team was really encouraging and we played some good stuff, we played a different system to the previous few weeks trying to play a little more counter attacking and we really did limit Hartlepool to very few chances.”
The under 18s’ set up has often strived to bring players who are even younger into the team and give them opportunities when available, this trend continued against Hartlepool, something that Rose believes is a major positive, while also praising the number of youngsters being given first team chances.
“The main positive is that we got a 14 year old on the pitch today and an under 16, Jack Bromfield, who is 15 years old with Joe Sbarra on the bench for the first team, I believe that at one point the first team had Matty (Palmer), Ben (Fox) and Marcus (Harness) on the pitch, so four academy graduates in a Championship team is something that everyone can be proud of.”