Steve full of praise for his young development team
Steve Eyre couldn’t speak highly enough of his young development players following their 2-1 victory over Coventry.
Goals from Duane Holmes and Connor Loftus ensured another three points for Eyre’s men who had to battle hard after going a goal behind.
“I am very pleased,” Steve told htafc.com “We fielded a very young team today who defended excellently in the first half and were only a goal behind because of a poor mistake. I was delighted with the way the team performed in the first-half despite conceding a penalty.
“I tried to put a little bit of belief into the group at half-time but they didn’t really need that because of the way that they had finished the first. We were a little bit braver in the second-half playing down the slope and I thought for 80 minutes we were excellent.”
Town enjoyed all the possession in the second 45 and were well worth the two goals they grabbed in the last twenty minutes.
“We showed bravery to keep playing football; we didn’t get forced into knocking the ball long. There was a point in the game where we on top but struggling to break down the Coventry defence so I made the switch and brought on the inform Duane Holmes. He has scored six in six for the Academy and is excellent at breaking the lines and that is what he did for us today – he deserved his goal.”
He continued: “I have mentioned before that Connor Loftus is good at running onto balls and I thought his contribution today was also excellent. He scored an absolute wonder goal, showing fantastic reactions to touch and shoot before the ‘keeper could get back on to his line. It was a piece of individual brilliance that was well worthy of winning any game.”
With the first team in action against Leicester on Tuesday night, Steve had to call upon four under-18 players, one of which, William Boyle, started alongside James Burke at the back.
“I am thrilled with the way that William performed. Credit to Frankie Bunn, Mark Lillis and the lad himself for the way that he acquitted himself against Roy O’Donovan (a member of Coventry’s first team) who he won plenty of headers against, and then when he had the ball, he played out from the back very well.”
Steve also had plenty of praise for Town’s hardworking, on loan Rochdale striker, Godwin Abadaki.
“Godwin’s performance in the first-half was as good as you will get from a lone striker against tough opposition. I thought Godwin and William were outstanding for us today. We are now starting to get our rewards for the hard work that we are doing on the training field through the week. Today was probably the first time this season where we have put a performance and a result together.”
