BURTON Albion Academy Manager Dan Robinson was full of praise for the character shown by the Young Brewers after they defeated Scunthorpe United 5-3 on Friday afternoon.
In a hectic match at St George’s Park, Albion’s Professional Development Phase side came from behind on two occasions to secure their first EFL Youth Alliance league win since August.
Speaking shortly after the entertaining contest, Robinson said: “Our recent form hasn’t been brilliant but the win in the cup last week [2-0 over Port Vale] was important for the lads’ confidence.
“For young players, the journey of learning to be resilient doesn’t always go your way, but the lads showed great character to dig deep and they kept persevering throughout the game.
“We looked a little bit vulnerable defensively at times, but equally so did they, which is ultimately why so many goals were scored.
“Each member of the team showed why we signed them today. We’re always looking to bring in good characters and good people, as well as good players.”
Four of the Young Brewers’ five goals were scored by Callum Niven, who has recently returned to the team following a very useful loan spell at Redditch United.
Discussing the striker’s recent activity, Robinson stated: “Callum has had a month playing at a high level of non-league football as part of our strategy with players. We give them an opportunity to go and play on loan at clubs that we trust, and Redditch have looked after him really well for us.
“They’ve given him plenty of minutes at that level and he’s really benefited from that. You can’t ask for more than four goals in one game from a striker, and aside from his goals, I thought his work rate was unbelievable today.”
Aside from Niven’s individual performance, Robinson was also keen to applaud the whole Burton team for the composure they showed in the latter stages to secure all three points.
“Scunthorpe are quite physical and are capable of causing teams a lot of problems, but I thought we coped with them really well towards the end of the game,” he said.
“During those final five minutes or so, I felt that we had the quality there to keep hold of the ball and move it. The boys will have hopefully taken a lot from it in terms of learning to see games out like we did.
“We’re going to be playing in the FA Youth Cup against Sheffield Wednesday soon, which will no doubt be a really tough challenge at home, and the game management will be key. So it was great to practice that today ahead of that game.”