Farndon delighted with the start the Under 18's have made, which continued on Saturday with a 2-1 win against Nottingham Forest…
Coventry City Under 18's coach Jason Farndon expressed his satisfaction at the performance shown by the young Sky Blues as they beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 at the Nigel Doughty Academy on Saturday.Goals from Jordan Shipley and Bassala Sambou meant that City extended their lead at the top of Professional Development League 2 North to three points.
Farndon praised the efforts of his side and was particularly pleased to have a couple of players making the step up from Under 16 to Under 18 level.
"It was a good performance all round," he said. "I asked to see some character, and I got it. There was a couple of 16-year olds who played, and performed great.
"Dan Smith came on and looked composed. We had Reece Ford making his first start too, which was pleasing. We rested a lot of players for our next game on Wednesday but we still managed to keep the run going."
Sambou hit the winner on his return from injury to extend City's impressive start to the season. Farndon was pleased at how he and fellow scorer Shipley took their goals and revealed how he told the side to keep calm at half time.
He continued: "I always felt we would get another chance, I said that at half time. Sambou has come back and taken his chance, it's his first goal which was great.
"It was a great finish from Shipley too, from 25 yards out. It's a hard working group I have here, now we just need to keep the run going on Wednesday."
Despite the blistering start, which has seen the young Sky Blues only lose once, Farndon is not surprised at the progress that has been made by his side, which he wants to continue when they play Peterborough Northern Star in the FA Youth Cup First Round.
Farndon also wants to continue producing players to push for contention in manager Steven Pressley's first team.
He concluded: "We look at everything on a game by game basis. We are a great hard-working bunch, and we have not been able to play the same starting XI all season, but everyone who has come in has done their job.
"In my mind there is a certain percentage of players I'd like to see start for the first team who are home-grown. With players like James Maddison, George Thomas and Kyle Spence all featuring at points this season, it's great to see.
"Hopefully now more and more players keep coming through and we keep meeting our monthly targets, that's what we need to aim at."