Development squad beaten by Rovers
Fleetwood Town’s development squad fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers this afternoon.Manager Barry Nicholson wasn’t too despondent after the game though as his side performed admirably at Rovers’ training ground.
A number of youngsters and trialists impressed, but the fixture also offered first teamers Mark Roberts, Danny Andrew, Antoni Sarcevic and Matty Hughes some playing time.
Nicholson’s men had won their last four games prior to today’s loss, with a 4-1 win over Nike Academy at St George’s Park last week the latest victory.
He said: “The performance today was really good. Chris Lucketti came along and took the game with me because there was a few first team lads playing.
“Performance wise we’re really happy about it. We went 1-0 up through a trialist, and then we lost a slack goal from a set-piece just before half time.
“I spoke to the lads at half time and told them to keep their performance levels up, but then we found ourselves 3-1 down six minutes into the second half.
“The second half wasn’t as high a tempo as the first, and the two goals early on just shocked us a little as there was no way we deserved to be down.
“It’s always nice winning, but it’s not always the result that matters at this level. It’s all about getting the performance right.
“We want the lads to get in the habit of winning because it obviously breeds confidence. When you’re confident you try things on the football pitch.”