Sky Blues Under-21s Head Coach, John Dempster reflected on, what he described as a ‘scrappy game’ as his side fell to defeat against Hull City.
An own goal had put the Sky Blues in front, but an own goal at the other end and then a Will Jarvis strike in the second half secured the points for the Tigers.
In a game where chances were few and far between, that second half strike ultimately condemned Dempster’s side to defeat at the Alan Higgs Centre.
Looking back at the games events following the final whistle, Dempster told how his side can learn from disappointment against the Tigers…
Reflecting on the performance…
“There wasn’t a lot of quality on show. I think sometimes the conditions can make it difficult with the wind, but that would be making excuses really.
“There were opportunities where we could show better things in the final third and our build-up play could be better, so there’s loads to work on.
“It was a scrappy game to be fair and I think overall across the 90 minutes, Hull were the better side and we’ve come away with zero points and I think that’s what we’ve deserved.”
Looking at the goals in the game…
“All three goals in the game we scrappy. They scored an own goal and then we’ve conceded from a set play which we’re disappointed to concede from.
“The last one is a number of different errors in the middle of the pitch and for them to walk through and score from is disappointing.”
The second half…
“It was a transition game in the second half. We gave the ball away and they gave the ball away, there wasn’t much quality.
“We had two good opportunities at the end, Jay McGrath got on the end of a ball in the box and the ‘keeper saved well. Then late on there was a bit of a scramble I thought we could have landed on, but we didn’t create enough, and we spoke about that at half time.
“We wanted to test the ‘keeper more and we didn’t make him work enough and I didn’t think he had a lot to do and that’s something we need to correct in our next game.”
Learning from the game…
“We’ve got lots to work on an learn from.
“Some players were coming back from injury and getting some minutes in the tank and some scholars got minutes as well and I think they found it difficult today, but that’s good because they need to be challenged and they need to learn.
“Individually we expect the players to take more responsibility and bring more to the table than we did today.”