Academy manager delighted with cup display
Huddersfield Town Academy Manager Mark Lillis spoke to htafc.com following what he described as an “unbelievable result” for his Under-18s at Stoke on Wednesday night.
Extra time goals from Paul Mullin and William Boyle saw Town progress to the Fifth Round after Duane Holmes had scored in normal time.
“I am massively proud; proud of the players, proud of the staff and proud of the fans that turned up,” said Mark.
“It is an unbelievable result and we showed a lot of character. We rode our luck at the end, but we deserved to go through. A year ago we would have lost that game, but we have got character and belief and the lads played for the shirt.”
Town’s Under-18s produced a superb first half display and were unlucky to go in just one goal to the good.
“We still wanted more from them – I believe they can play even better,” Mark told htafc.com. “These sorts of nights are all about the players’ development and to be in the last 16 of the cup is fantastic for the Club and we will be working hard to make sure that we give a good account of ourselves against Nottingham Forest.
“The lads did brilliantly during the 90 minutes, but when the final whistle went myself, Tony (Carss) and Frankie (Bunn) were telling the players that the hard work starts here. All that extra running that they do in training paid off because we believed that we had the edge. We prepared properly for the game, just as the first team would do and the big two words were ‘no regrets’.
The Terriers will travel to the City Ground to play Nottingham Forest in the Fifth Round, a team they suffered defeat against in the league.
“They are a good side who worked there socks off against us in the league so we know it will be a very tough challenge. We will enjoy tonight and then go back to work tomorrow – we have given them half an hour extra in bed because of their efforts!"
