B Team and U19s play Burnley at noon on Tuesday 18 June 2023
- Burnley vs Town B/Burnley vs Town U19s
- Noon kick-off for both fixtures
- Both games to be played behind-closed-doors
A double-header for our B Team and Under-19 side as they travel to face Burnley in their run of pre-season fixtures on Tuesday 18 July 2023.
Both our B Team and Under-19s travel the short distance over the Pennines to Burnley behind-closed-doors on Tuesday 18 July, with both games kicking off at noon.
This closely follows the B Team’s friendly against Bradford (Park Avenue) on Friday evening, which saw the Terriers win 0-4 away against the National League North senior side. An own goal and goals from Conor Falls, Aaron Rowe and Trialist Will Bapaga secured the win.
Our U19s also had a game this weekend as they welcomed Cre8tive Football Academy to the Millers Oils High Performance Complex and won 3-0 with all three goals coming in the first half – Hazeem Bakre scored two of these and Sonny Whittingham scored one.
These pre-season friendlies prepare the Academy players for the season with the speed and intensity at which they are played.
Academy Manager Jon Worthington spoke to us about the pre-season for the Academy and the necessity for a good pre-season:
“I personally think pre-season is massive.
“We obviously did our closed season a little bit different this year and rather than players have a prolonged period off through the summer, we broke that up a little bit, so we had players in at different times through the summer.
“This allowed us to keep tabs on the players, make sure they were in really good shape so that when we came back into pre-season, they had a really good starting point.”
Worthy then spoke about the games being played tomorrow against Burnley and how that will benefit both teams travelling and the necessity of getting minutes under the belt before the season.
“It’s a great opportunity getting to take two teams over to Burnley; first and foremost, it’s about minutes and players getting minutes – you can train as much as you want but it’s about getting that match sharpness and getting minutes in the legs, so across all players in the Academy that’s the most important thing.
“In terms for the younger boys, the new scholars who have just come into the building, it’s a great opportunity for them to build relationships with the other scholars and really start to implement the style of play that we do in the Academy.”
Our Academy play many games within short spaces of time, and pre-season is no exception, Jon explains the importance of getting used to playing with little rest time between games and how it sets the lads up for professional careers.
“Last season, I think we played over 50 games in both age groups.
“All the time, no matter what you’re doing, you’re trying to recreate as close as possible to scheduling games and what it looks like in a professional game.
“So, we think that minutes in games are massive because it allows us to implement everything we do in training.
“Therefore, we’re always up for taking games and taking challenges with different teams and different styles because it’s an opportunity for the players to get different experiences.”
If you were unable to make the B Team game against Bradford (Park Avenue) on Friday evening, you can catch up on the goals below courtesy of HTTV on YouTube!
You can keep up-to-date on all things Academy by following our dedicated social media accounts!
Twitter - @htafcacademy
Instagram - @htafcbteam
