Sky Blues’ Under-23s defender Jay McGrath praised his side as they secured their place in the Professional Development League final in a nine-goal thriller.
After going a goal ahead through Will Bapaga, the Sky Blues then found themselves coming from behind for the rest of the semi-final tie.
The Under-23s conceded early in the second-half of extra-time, to make the score 4-3 to Ipswich; however, as the first-team have done many times this past season, the Under-23s battled back late on to score two quick fire goals to win 5-4.
Defender Jay McGrath hailed his team’s determined performance as they progressed through to the PDL final.
“It’s unbelievable from the boys, I’ll be honest, the character we’ve shown to go 4-3 down early in extra-time and to come back and win 5-4 is amazing.” McGrath began.
“Everyone was down but we’ve got the players in the team, we’ve got leaders to get the boys going again and that’s what we did, we didn’t let it affect us and we go and win the game.
“It’s that underdog spirit we have, no one expects us to win, we came second in our league, [Ipswich] came top and we just keep fighting to the end and that’s what you get.
“We’re thinking we can win the game, we always are with the players we have on the pitch and the subs we had coming off the bench. We got a penalty and then [Josh] Reidy put an unbelievable cross in and Ryan met it with a great header.
“The lads have given everything all year and that just shows the character in the dressing room and what we can do.”
The young Sky Blues will go on to face Bristol City at Ashton Gate in the final, with the date to be confirmed.
Having played the the Robins a few games ago, Tisdale’s side will be well aware of the dangers they possess and McGrath previewed the finale clash.
“We played them a couple of weeks ago, so we know what they’re about and it’s fresh in our minds still. We’ll come in and prepare, so we’ll be ready to go.
“We need to tighten up at the back for the final because you can’t concede four every game and win, but we’ll have a look at it and go again.
“It’s the same thing, the underdog spirit. We’ll be away from home but it won’t effect the lads, we’ll be ready to go and we’ll do what we do best.”