BURTON Albion’s under 18s side secured their third win in four Youth Alliance games as goals from Reece Hutchinson and Jake Davies gave them a 2-1 win over Lincoln City.
The Brewers created chances to score more than the one goal before half time, before doubling their lead early in the second half. The Imps reduced the deficit with a late own goal coming from a cross that deflected past goalkeeper Ollie Fairbrother.
Professional Development Phase Lead Coach Sam Rose was pleased by the performance of the Brewers.
He said: “We were really pleased with the first-half performance. I think it is not unfair to say that we could have scored five and should have scored two or three.
“We created lots of chances and some of the play was really encouraging. The first goal was a really good well worked goal from passing combination down the side and a smart finish. We changed our approach to pressing quite early in the game. Credit to the players, we showed adaptability and good problem solving skills reducing Lincoln to very few chances to play in our half.
“We were under a little bit of pressure in the second-half because we had only scored the one goal. We know the opposition would take confidence from only being a goal behind and it was important for us to score a goal early in the second-half, which we did.
“I think that everyone performed well today, particularly as a number of the lads haven't played a lot of football recently due to either injury or opportunity. It was another encouraging performance against a good side.”
Full back Joe Brown, who's season has been hampered by injury, returned to the side today. He said: “It was a good performance, especially in the first-half. We got the ball down well and played. It was a bit more difficult in the second-half when Lincoln put on the pressure. It was a good result to get the 2-1 win.”
Returning defender Jacob Saville said: “We pressed well in the first-half and Lincoln couldn’t really deal with it. Second-half, they had to pile on the pressure because they were losing, but we got the second goal and killed the game off.”