The Sky Blues Under-18s fell to a 2-0 defeat to Ipswich Town this past weekend in the Professional Development League.
The Sky Blues started the match with seven Under-16s in their starting 11 and finished it with nine U16s and an U15s in their starting XI.
Speaking after the game coach Chay Thompson expressed his admiration for the side despite the defeat: “Overall I’m really pleased with the players; it was a young side who faced a tough older tougher side in Ipswich.
“There were lots of positives in our youngsters they grafted for each other, they grafted for the badge and they grafted for the club and they are he standards which we expect for them in the programme next season.”
Although the coaching staff would love to have a full strength U18 squad to fulfil the fixtures, Chay Thompson knows he can rely on youth when he needs to.
“Of course, it gives them a taster of what they are coming into next year, there is a lot of learning they need to take from the game today and even what they do outside of football there is a lot of learning to take place not just on the pitch but off the pitch as well.
“Today there was lads cramping up until the end of the game because the way they grafted for the club and the standards we expected as U18s coaches.”
Speaking on the performance today Chay Thompson knows that the result does not reflect the performance from the side, telling how there is plenty of positives to take from the game.
“We felt as if we should of took something from the game, we got into great areas at time, you know maybe it was just that lack of relationship between each other because of the changes in the squad.
“We were brave at all times and obviously losing can’t become a habit but obviously there were a lot of positives to take from what were a young side.”
With a young side to their disposal and a lot of learning to take from the game Chay knows despite the result the future is bright for the scholars next year
“The positives were the way we handled ourselves against an older side, the way we physically matched them and technically matched them, the patterns of play matched up.
“We matched them for the 90 minutes and against a side that are in the top two in their league, they’re a good side and they’re still in the FA youth Cup.
“It was great to see young footballers enjoying themselves running around and you know there is so much to improve on as a coach and we are always thinking about we can improve the players as a coach looking forwards, we are already thinking on how we can improve.”