Sky Blues Under-23s Head Coach Luke Tisdale believes the match against Coventry Sphinx on Tuesday night will prove to be ‘a valuable experience’ for his young side if they learn from the defeat.
City arranged the friendly match with Sphinx, who play in the United Counties League Premier South Division, last week; with proceedings from the match going to the Brain Tumour Research Charity and Tisdale spoke of the strong test his side faced.
“I thought today’s game was a valuable experience, a really valuable experience if we learn from it, and it’ll hopefully prove to be a reality check.
“I thought there were some bright bits, but there were some things we got wrong, and we got exposed. Sometimes in the games we’ve played so far, we’ve made mistakes and got away with it but not tonight.
“I have to give credit to Coventry Sphinx because they punished every mistake that we made. I thought they were relentless and put us under immense pressure throughout the game and we didn’t stand up to it so there is a load to take out of the game and it’s up to the players to learn from tonight”.
“Credit to the group as they kept going, they got it back to 5-3 then had another chance to make it 5-4 but it would have been a bit of a false score had we got a draw as we didn’t deserve a draw.
“So we did keep going but first and foremost we need to stop giving poor goals away, which we’ve not done so far this season, but we have done tonight. But the keeping going bit is a non-negotiable, that has to happen regardless of score line so it’s a positive but a prerequisite”.
When asked about how beneficial it was for the group to face more experienced players, with the Birmingham Senior Cup clash coming up, Tisdale believes the benefits will only be seen over the course of the season.
“We’ll see how beneficial it is in the long term, and like I say a lot of it will be down to the players. We’ve got AFC Wulfrunians coming up in Birmingham Senior Cup, and I would imagine a lot of tonight’s group will be involved in that game.
“We can’t predict what the score line will be that night and what will happen in that game but in the way we approach that game and manage our own performance will show us how beneficial tonight was.
“Sphinx caused us a lot of problems; and in tonight’s kind of game, you have to try and rectify them in game, not on the training pitch, so you’ve got to try and fix it quickly.
“The players have been very open and honest in the changing room which was good to see. The good thing about football and the number of games we are trying to play this year is you will always get an opportunity to put it right and hopefully the players will keep taking the opportunities that come their way as quickly as possible.
“We’ve got Millwall on Monday at the Higgs, so if the players can take some aspects of this game into Under 23s football then they’ll be a successful group”.