Reacting to the Under 18’s win over Hull City, Assistant PDP Coach Chay Thompson said that he was delighted that his ‘hard working’ side got what they deserved, whilst scoring some impressive goals along the way.
The Under 18s overcame the Tigers 6-0 on Tuesday afternoon to see the young Sky Blues earn their third successive win after last week's 4-0 success over Sheffield Wednesday and Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Peterborough United in the Professional Development League Cup and Thompson praised the side's performances.
“We won in the cup against Peterborough on Saturday, so we are really pleased to get three wins on the bounce in all competitions, scoring a lot of goals, keeping clean sheets, we look well organised and there were some outstanding goals scored by the lads today so really pleased,” said Thompson.
“We are a hard-working side, we set ourselves on being hardworking so early on when we showed some little bits of quality, that comes from working hard, making it difficult for the opposition and then we scored some outstanding goals.
“We work on the key moments in training, with blocking and stopping attacks and obviously defending in and around the penalty area and we did that really well today limiting them to hardly any chances so it’s a credit to everyone from the frontline to the backline.”
By the end of the game yesterday’s side contained a number of Under 16s, as has been the case throughout this season, and Thompson praised how the youngsters have taken to needing to perform a level above their age group.
“Every time they have stepped up they have been absolutely excellent, they have worked hard and really bought into what we are trying to do.
“They can make mistakes and get things wrong, but we understand that’s young footballers but they really want to learn, they ask questions and they prove a credit to the Under 16s coaches because they have stepped up and done really well."
The win saw five different scorers on the score sheet, with all three forwards Sam Rodber, Charlie Manners and Justin Obikwu finding the net, and Thompson was impressed with the finishing on display.
“We got our three strikers on the pitch today and we thought what formation and system can we play to get them all involved and they’ve all ended up on the score sheet scoring some really good goals.
“They are a handful and give you something different and variation in your play, which is good for us as coaches, but overall really pleased with them.
“Some of the goals we scored today were different level so they should be pleased with that and we’ve got a real good week to look forward to preparing for Leeds United at the Coventry Building Society Arena."
Following the win, full focus can now turn to preparing for the FA Youth Cup clash at the Coventry Building Society Arena with Leeds United on Tuesday evening, and with it easy to be distracted with that game on the horizon, Thompson said there has been no concerns regarding that, praising the players’ focus.
“The focus from the players has been brilliant, they’ve not really spoken about it (Leeds game), just gone one game at a time and we’re just going to prepare for the Leeds United game as any other game.
“It’s another game for us, its going to be a little different because it is in a stadium, but we are really looking forward to the game because we think we can give Leeds United a really good go.”