BURTON Albion under 18s manager Sam Rose was delighted with his side’s 4-3 win over Lincoln City but did admit that his team needs to be tighter defensively.
Despite losing only once in the Youth Alliance League, Rose’s team have failed to keep a clean sheet in the division so far.
Cam Steele and Joe Sbarra managed a goal each, while Reece Hutchinson scored two well executed drives from range in quick succession, despite playing left wing back.
Rose was pleased with the football that his side played but admitted they had made it hard for themselves.
“We have conceded a few goals again today which has put pressure on us and we have had to score four to win the game. We are pleased to have won it and, on reflection, we have played some really good stuff, we didn’t defend particularly well at times, conceding three goals.
“Our playing philosophy was evident and we put them under quite a bit of pressure with some of the possession football that we played, and we created a lot of chances, which was all very pleasing.”
Rose had spoken last season about the direct style of football that Lincoln often deploy. The Brewers had struggled to deal with a less possession based philosophy before.
The Burton manager said that he had seen Lincoln playing a more patient style of football this season, but felt that his team forced The Imps to revert to a more direct game.
“We watched Lincoln’s previous game against Bradford City and they played out from the back and linked the ball into midfield and worked it out wide quite well. We expected a little bit of that today which is how we set up.
“Lincoln were a little bit different today with some more direct football, but I think that was due to us pressing from the front and not giving them much time to play so they tried to get in behind us with a long ball. They had a strong number nine, but our back three dealt with the balls in the air quite well.”
One other positive for Rose was that Jack Bromfield was one of three under 16 players to get game time against Lincoln, along with one under 15. The under 18s travel to Grimsby next, hoping to make it back-to-back wins in the league for the first time this season.