Worthy impressed with his side’s development after Notts County tie
- Huddersfield Town’s Under-17s get underway in the EFL Youth Alliance League
- Young Terriers work on playing out from the back
- Jon Worthington impressed with his group’s development
Huddersfield Town’s Under-17s began their 2020/21 EFL Youth Alliance League campaign on Saturday, putting in a positive display as they worked on the build and playing out from the back against Notts County.
The visitors may have emerged the victors on the day, scoring their goals towards the end of each half, however Jon Worthington and his coaching staff were happy with a number of factors in the Young Terriers’ performance.
The training focus of the game for the Under-17s was on the build of an attack and playing out from the back, and from the first whistle this was evident.
The group played well as a team, dominating possession for the majority of the game and carved out a number of good chances at important times, and were unfortunate not to have found the net.
“I was really pleased,” said Worthy. “Everyone who played today was very good, and they’ve done well to take on a lot of information in a short space of time.
“We’ve done a lot of work this week on the build and playing out from the back, and the identity of what we were looking to do was clear. The relationships all over the pitch were really good, which allowed us to dominate the ball. The group have done great.
“There was a mix of ages in the team because we’ve got a few injuries and things like that. The team will continue to change but it’s about the development of players and giving them the best opportunity.
“Having some of our Under-19s in the team, who experienced the same process as the current Under-17s last season, helps us to reinforce what we are trying to say and deliver and it can also speed up the process for the young lads.”
Worthy was also happy to see the return of the EFL Youth Alliance, the league that provides most of the challenges for the Under-17s as they often play against teams a year older and put into practice what they have covered in training sessions.
“It’s been a long period with no football, you can do all the work you want off the pitch in training, but it’s the 11 vs 11 game day, where you apply what you’ve worked on in training into a real match situation.”
The Young Terriers have another two tests coming up this week, with last year’s group hosting Blackburn Rovers in the Clarets Cup Semi-Final yet to be played from the 2019/20 season on Tuesday, before this year’s group will play Guiseley AFC in a friendly on Wednesday.
Town’s Under-17 team vs Notts County (4-3-3)
Michael Roxburgh; Luke Billam, David Adewoju, Loick Ayina ©, Michael Stone (Sonny Whittingham, 73’); Ernaldo Krasniqi, Myles Bright, Darnel Baxter-Alleyne; Donay O’Brien-Brady, Robson Shipley (Andre Edionhon, 62’), Gulutte Zunda
Unused subs
Neo Eccleston, Jeremy Stewart
Final score
Huddersfield Town Under-17s 0-2 Notts County
