Gary Mills was pleased with his side’s performance, as they made it back-to-back wins to start their 2023/24 campaign.
The Under-18s backed up victory against Colchester United last week, with a 3-2 win against Queens Park Rangers.
City’s youngsters have picked up maximum points so far this season and Mills was satisfied with victory, despite QPR threating a second half comeback.
“I thought the performance levels and what we asked of the players was very good first half. We've asked them to control games and play through the thirds and we did that really well, but also the intensity out of position was really good.
“I didn't think QPR started well, and we managed to get ourselves in the lead, Ben Blakely with a set piece goal and he’s started the season really well and we’re really pleased with Ben.
“We did place an awful lot of pressure on him during the pre-season, and he seems to have come out the other side and he's putting in performances that he should be proud of.”
“We then got the second through Aidan Dausch, thanks to a little bit of imagination from Eliot, Betjemann and then the third goal was good play again with Charlie Finney arriving in the box and finishing it in the bottom corner.
“So, we're going into halftime 3-0 up and I told the players please beware, but then second half, we didn't hit the levels and to be fair to QPR they did come out, they had a real energy about them, and we didn't we didn't pass the ball well enough.
“We weren't brave enough to draw them onto us and fair play to QPR they showed terrific character, but we were disappointed about our second half performance.”
Reflecting on that second half spell, Mills was able to pinpoint where he wants his side to be better moving forward and where they need to develop their game.
“I spoke to them at half-time about it's going to be a totally different game and QPR are going to come out and have a right go and they did do that.
“We weren’t brave enough to keep possession of the football and when we did get into the QPR half, we felt like we had to score every attack and I wanted us to show a bit more patience and a bit more calmness on the ball, but that's something to look through on the analysis and the areas where we could be better.
“However, overall, I’m really pleased with the start the lads have had and one thing they have done is given their all and that is something that we have asked for the boys from pre-season.
“Every training session, every game you have to empty the tank and they have been doing that to be fair.”
With two victories under their belts, Mills believes the exposure to first team training and pre-season fixtures against Non-League opposition is having it’s benefit on his side.
“Physically we're looking good. They look game ready, which is positive for us and that’s credit to the sports science department.
“The attitude of the lads and the hunger to defend has been a huge plus and the games against the senior players has taught them the little dark arts of the game and producing those in games.