THE Young Brewers are currently on a run of five games unbeaten after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Lincoln City, winning four of those games and keeping three clean sheets in that time.
While the first and second year scholars have played a big part in the last five games, a number of current under 16s, who will be making the step up to the EFL Youth Alliance next season, have featured at times.
This is something that has been commonplace throughout recent seasons, as the Academy looks towards its new batch of prospects.
Professional Development Phase Coach Sam Rose says that being able to include some younger players without seeing a difference in performance levels has been pleasing for the Professional Development Phase.
“We have included a number of lads in from the under 16s group because it is important that they get exposure. We only have one month of the season left, so any opportunity that we have to get those boys a taste of what it will be like next season is an important step. But, we are also conscious that this next month is important for our second year scholars who have worked hard all season to get to this point.
“In previous years, we have always had players come in from under 15s and 16s, Ben Fox, Reece Hutchinson and Marcus Harness all did, so when the opportunities arise players will get to play up. They have done well, so we are really encouraged with what the group looks like for next season.
“It’s a good run that we are on. We are really pleased with the way that the team are grinding out results. The results over the course of the season haven’t always reflected how well the group have played and how hard they have worked in games. We could have done a little bit more of this ‘clean sheet’ mentality from the start of the season, but that’s something to look at now for pre-season and next year.
“We have had some consistency in the team performances and the way that we are defending. We are also scoring goals and have won games against teams that have been doing really well, teams that we maybe struggled against earlier in the season. To be picking up good results and putting the work rate in to games that we are doing after what is always a tough under 18s season is credit to the players."