George Thomas and Aaron Martin both play 90-minutes as new signing Kyle Spence impresses on the wing...
Coventry City Under-21s coach, Lee Glover has been encouraged by the progress of the youngsters in the Sky Blue Academy as he fielded a side that included the return to fitness of George Thomas, Jack Finch and Ben Stevenson.
It has been an ecouraging few days for the club's youth setup, as the academy youngsters look to have been energised by the first team’s 6-0 pounding of Bury at the weekend.
The U18s team took an experienced Arsenal side to penalties in the FA Youth Cup on Monday evening, whilst the U21s were unlucky not to take all three points away from Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday in Tuesday's 1-1 draw.
“It’s the most experienced side I have fielded at Under-21 level and you can tell in the way they approached the game and the way they moved the ball quickly,” Glover commented.
‘[Gael] Bigirimana played, Ben [Stevenson] back on the pitch, Jack [Finch] back - these are all pluses.”
The Under-21s side will consider themselves unlucky, having dominated for large percentages of the game and carved out chances to seal the victory. Glover added:
“We played well again. We did get chances and we managed to take one, although we had three or four good opportunities to get something.
“Saying that, they had a penalty and a great chance with 20 seconds left.
“I come away thinking one each, but with a bit more composure in the final third we would have got the second goal.”
The Sky Blues development coach also highlighted a standout performance from 19-year old Dion Kelly-Evans who looked bright down the left flank for City.
“I thought Dion - who has been a mainstay of the side - he was excellent. Aaron Martin calmed things down at the back and to come to a stadium like this, it’s great for the lads to have a taste of that and they did themselves justice.”
Glover was able to field a strong side against Sheffield, with the return from injury of key players and the addition of Kyle Spence who has signed a deal with the Sky Blues until the end of the season.
Glover added: “Getting these lads fit again, you can see we look a better more competitive side.
“I said to Kyle [Spence] get the ball and get at them. He was clever, he was quick - he should be happy.
“The players need to be churning out performances and making an impression in training when the Gaffer is about to try and earn themselves a full-time contract.”