Burton Albion’s Professional Development Phase lead coach Keith Gilroy was proud of his side’s resilience as they beat Port Vale 2-1 in the FA Youth Cup.
Late goals from Dylan Scott and Kiyan Baker-McKay helped the Young Brewers turn a 1-0 deficit around and put the Brewers in the hat for the second round of the FA Youth Cup.
After the game, Gilroy said: “Once we gained control and got back playing our football, we slowly got our way back up the pitch again, creating chances and that gave the boys good confidence.
“I think what was pleasing was the mindset, not to sit back again, but actually to go and score the winner, it’s their biggest night that they will have played so far, so to come back in that type of way was really pleasing.”
In a game where heads could easily drop after going a goal behind, Gilroy was pleased that his side were able to pick themselves up and keep going.
“We talk about momentum in games and when you concede a goal like that from a set piece, obviously Port Vale’s tails will be up, but we were really proud of the resilience that they showed.
“Once we gained control and got back playing our football, we slowly got our way back up the pitch again, creating chances and that gave the boys good confidence.
“The main lift they get is from the crowd, you see the celebrations for the first goal, the adrenaline went up a notch, they kicked on to go on and score another to get that feeling again.”
Gilroy was still keen to highlight that at this age, every game is about the players development and sticking to the same philosophies.
“I think that development and winning go hand in hand, the mindset in league games might not be as concentrated.
“It doesn’t deteriorate from the way we like to play, there was a twenty-minute period where we wanted to control the game, we want to control the ball, that doesn’t change.
“We pride ourselves on hard work, the club does, that was probably the most pleasing thing to see over the night.”
“It’s a big game for the kids, the families are here, we tried to big it up, but equally can they cope under pressure on a night like this.
“We go the extra mile a little bit on the Youth Cup games, the chairman kindly put on some pre-match food, we give them more videos and more motivation videos to make them feel like what the first team would feel like on a week-to-week basis.”
The Young Brewers will look to take the confidence from the win back into the league where they play Huddersfield Town away on Saturday.
The ties of the FA Youth Cup second round are set to be played before Saturday November 25th.