Academy Manager Graham Mitchell had to field a very young side to face Nottingham Forest in the FA Premier Academy League on Saturday and his players put in one of the performances of the season.
Town's matchday squad featured eight players who could still play at under-16 or under-15 level due to a number of injuries to more senior under-18 scholars and the youngsters were incredibly unlucky to lose the game by a single goal.
Defender Adam Field is set to miss at least five months through an ankle injury, whereas midfielder Chris Atkinson has a broken hand and the pair of Aiden Chippendale and Jimmy Spencer were on first-team duty down in Brentford. As a result, youngsters Israel Johnson, Warwick Charlton, Jordan Sinnott, Matt Crooks and Lloyd Allinson all received the call to play for Mitchell's team.
Forest opened the scoring on 55 minutes after a striker seized upon a poor back-pass from a Town player, but the Terriers continued to battle and equalised with ten minutes left. Under-15 striker Ryan Cox, only 20 minutes into his debut after replacing Aidan D'Arcy as a substitute, latched onto midfielder Sinnott's deep free-kick and tapped the ball home from three yards out.
Unfortunately for the young Terriers, Forest grabbed all three points in the 93rd minute. Despite this, Mitchell told htafc.com he was delighted with his players:
"Our performance was one of the best of the season - we played extremely well, especially when you consider the age of the team we fielded.
"I think the level of performance from the team and the individuals is a good indication of what we can expect at under-18 level over the next couple of seasons.
"There were lots of positives to take from the game; the experience that the under-16 and under-15 players will have gained from this will stand them in good stead if and when they become scholars, whereas Adam Colton played his first game following his long injury lay-off."
Town's Team (4-3-3):
Lloyd Allinson; Greg Pearson, Liam Ridehalgh, Leigh Franks (c), Stephen Powell; Matt Crooks (Adam Colton 70), Jordan Sinnott, Israel Johnson; Aidan D'Arcy (Ryan Cox 60), Michael McCaffery, Warwick Charlton (Shane Birtles 20)
Unused Subs: Ed Wilcinski, Harrison Blakey
