Young Cod Army start new season on Saturday
Fleetwood Town youth team manager Nathan Rooney is hopeful his young Codlings can begin the season well when they travel to Port Vale on Saturday.Rooney was appointed as the youth team’s new manager during the summer months, along with Dan Gregson who will act as his assistant.
The youngsters enjoyed a fruitful spell out in Austria on pre-season tour, and have won five out of their six friendlies to-date.
Their only defeat came away to Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday afternoon, as they went down in a seven-goal thriller.
He will now prepare his side for a trip to face the Valiants this weekend, as they kick-off the 2015/16 North West Youth Alliance league season.
Rooney said: “It was a grand thriller. It was probably the best game we could have had now to end pre-season.
“We needed to come up against a technical and a tactical team which would give us loads of presence.
“There are so many goals in this team though and we look forward to putting more goals in the back of the net this season.
“I mentioned to the dressing room prior to the game that we have had five different tests. We’ve played teams who’ve sat off us, teams who’ve come against us, and we have played against men.
“The difference was is we were hitting all three areas, we had to be technically bright, the nouse had to show through, but also we had to play against physical demanding teams who are at the peak of their game.
“I think the way we develop them as players is that we put a bump in the road, which is obviously what we had on Tuesday.
“We could have quite easily left this week and said we were happy with what we’ve got, but the gaffer (Graham Alexander) was present, and he recognised that a lot of individuals came out of that game.
“All we will do now is keep motivating each other on the training field, and we will prepare properly for Saturday.”