THE Burton Albion under 18s handed Rotherham their first Youth Alliance loss thanks to a hat-trick from Reece Hutchinson as well as goals from Tristan Matthews and Charlie Dowd.
The young Brewers came from behind twice to run out 5-2 winners. Matthews thought that hard-work paid off for the under 18s
He said: “I thought that we came out in the second-half firing and to score five goals was good. The team worked hard together.
“I thought that we were very resilient, Rotherham hadn’t been beaten all season and it was a big moment for the team. We just have to build on that for the next game and continue it throughout the season.”
Hutchinson has played in a variety of positions this season, varying from wing-back to a more advanced role. After his hat-trick on Saturday, Hutchinson said that he is enjoying playing further up the field and felt that the team made good on their second-half dominance.
He said: “I thought that the boys played really well. We played to our strengths really well. We were maybe a bit sloppy in the first-half but I thought we were dominant in the second-half and we scored five goals from that.
“I feel that (further forward) is where I do my best work. I like to get forward and I like to get on the ball, create chances and score lots of goals.”
Professional Development Phase Lead Coach Sam Rose felt that the Brewers deserved their win over the Millers but stressed that the starting 11 and future squads will include some younger players, as has been the case for large parts of 2017.
He said: “We were pleased that the group have built on the positive performances against Bolton Wanderers and Derby County. I thought we deserved to win the game on Saturday and to win by a 3-goal margin should give the group confidence, some of the play was exciting to watch and we scored good goals. Rotherham United are a strong team and Ciaran (Toner, PDP Lead Coach) has obviously done a fantastic job with them, which makes the performance and result even more impressive when you look at their form so far this season.’’
‘’We are unlikely to play such a settled side again for some time. We hope to be able to finalise work experience loans for a number of the apprentices this week and for them to experience playing in a different environment at local non-league level as part of their football development. We can expect future match squads to include u16s (next season’s apprentices) which is an exciting prospect. The challenge for the players, and us as staff, is to continue to show the hardworking and resilient attitude that we have shown in recent weeks and go in to every game with purpose, whether we are predominantly u18 or u16.’’