PROFESSIONAL Development Phase Lead Coach Sam Rose believes that a lack of quality was the deciding factor as the Burton Albion under 18s were beaten 3-1 by Walsall in the Youth Alliance Cup.
The young Brewers knew before the game kicked-off that they could not progress from their Youth Alliance Cup group, having been beaten in two of their opening three group games in the competition.
Regan Ganley was the scorer for a young Burton side, which was made-up of first-year scholars and under 16s players who will be making the step-up to the under 18s next season. Rose admits that getting experience is key for the younger players, but was frustrated by the team’s lack of quality against Walsall.
He said: “The quality was definitely amiss (against Walsall), we were definitely not as good as we needed to be with the ball. We defended well from open play for the most part, Walsall moved the ball really well.
“We had a game-plan to press from the front and the lads executed it pretty well. We changed shape in the second-half and looked relatively comfortable but we did not have the quality that we would have needed to win the game and we can be disappointed to concede the 2nd and 3rd goal. They were shots from the edge of the box and we should be blocking those.
“We left all of the second-year scholars at home today and put an under 16/17s team out and we have come up against a good Walsall side, but that is the point, to challenge the players. We have a few players out on-loan who are playing men’s football and we will always give the young players a chance.
“Win, lose or draw, we always ask that the players are hard-working and purposeful in what they do, and we saw some of that against Walsall.”