The Under-18s coach spoke about the momentum in the group, Bassala Sambou and his hopes for the FA Youth Cup here...
Coventry City Under-18s coach Jason Farndon admitted he would love to emulate last season’s FA Youth Cup run following the impressive 4-1 win over Walsall at the Banks’s Stadium.
Another magnificent four goal haul for Bassala Sambou secured City’s passage to the second round of the tournament, with Sambou netting eight goals in just two games.
Farndon is delighted with his striker’s form and to get to the next round, where the young Sky Blues will face Crewe at home. But the coach is aware that performance levels can’t drop if they want to continue their exploits in the cup.
"We’re delighted with result," Farndon said.
"We are disappointed with our second-half performance, it wasn’t a true representation of ourselves, but the main objective was to go through and we achieved that.
"Bassala has eight in two now, which is outstanding. He’s in a rich vein of form and the penny is dropping with him, not just with his goals and the way he’s been receiving the ball.
"He’s playing in a different strategy and he’s recognising he doesn’t need to take lots of touches to play, he can get it off and get in the box to score goals.
"We’d love to emulate last year, we have a home tie against Crewe so the draw hasn’t been kind to us again. Walsall are a good club who play the right way and we’re pleased to continue in the cup after getting through a difficult fixture."
After last night’s win, the Sky Blues’ run of form reads as six wins in seven, with City scoring 21 goals in those games.
Farndon believes that while the squad doesn’t have the same bigger name youngsters as last year’s FA Youth Cup run, but praised the team’s endeavor and togetherness after the recent excellent run.
He continued: "Arguably there aren’t the names that the media would be ringing up about, but the group are together and their effort for each other is exceptional.
"We’ve got momentum within the squad at the moment but it will get thinner and thinner. But we’ll keep pushing it and maybe bring in some Under-16s to help keep everyone going and to help progress this football club."