LFP Coach Ben King's thoughts after the Notts County game
Ben King, LFP CoachTown sent a young reserve side to Meadow Lane to take on Notts County in the Central League Cup on Tuesday afternoon.
Town were beaten 2-1 on the day by a County team which contained eight first team players, the score marked an impressive performance for Town’s side which contained five Under-15s and three Under-16s, with the rest of the squad being made of mainly first year scholars.
Town’s LFP Coach Ben King took charge of the young Town side and spoke to ShrewsWeb after the game.
“The lads did well – especially in the second half,” he said.
“I was very impressed, the first ten minutes is one of those where we had 15s and 16s in there and they were a little bit shaky.
“Tactically we needed to readjust a bit, but after that they really put a foot in, worked really hard and after we changed a few things tactically – they really performed well.”
County scored twice within the first ten minutes with the young Town side perhaps a little overawed by the opposition and the setting, but the team defended resolutely for the rest of the half to go in at half time 2-0 down.
King said: “In the second half we wanted to see more quality when we were in possession – trying to send it in behind or trying to get some combinations working.
“Defensively we needed to look at the shape a bit, but it was just a case keeping on top of certain things.
“In the first half we had 15-year-olds playing against some of their first team players, which is a great experience for them and they did perform really well. Obviously you’ve got that physical difference and that’s probably what shocked us in that first ten minutes.”
In the second half the team grew in confidence and went from strength to strength, before their efforts eventually culminated with skipper John McAtee scoring from distance to make it 2-1 in the 90th minute.
“John’s one of the second year scholar’s in that squad and he was one of the more senior players, he’s performed well this season so in this game he’s looked to lead and help out those younger players and he’s done a great job.
“When he got the ball he did the right things and all his hard work was rewarded with a decent goal as well.”