Fleetwood Town’s Development Squad lost 3-2 on Tuesday evening at Workington AFC in their second pre-season friendly.
Coach Simon Wiles spoke to the club’s website following the match…
Simon’s thoughts on the game…
“I thought we started on the front foot and that saw us get the early goal, and from that moment I thought we then took time to get into the game.
“A couple of mistakes from us not switching on from set pieces has cost us, and that saw Workington have the impetus for the rest of the first half.
“In the second half, we made a number of changes and that brought more energy into the team, and that’s what I asked for in the dressing room at the break. I felt we pressed higher up the pitch and worked together to win the ball back.
“We finished the game off much stronger which was pleasing for myself.”
Goals change games…
“We said on the bench after Dan Mooney was denied his second goal of the game that goals change games, and that’s just football and how quickly it can change.
“To be fair, their goalkeeper has made two fantastic saves after Dan connected with his two efforts, and it’s probably one of those where if he doesn’t connect as well as he does, it probably finds the back of the net.
“Ten minutes later, we then find ourselves 2-1 down which is really frustrating but from this, it has given us things to work on especially from set-pieces, which we will address in the next couple of weeks on the training ground.
“Hopefully he can put those to bed and keep ourselves in games of football.”
On Shayden Morris’ goal in the second half…
“Shayden made the same impact as he did last week when we played against Rhyl. He has come up with a goal and when you are that lively, you are a threat and with the young lads, we have told them to go out and play with freedom and enjoy themselves.
“But at the same time, they need to get the real messages from the top level and when we did lose the ball tonight, we worked hard to get it back. The boys are taking on these messages we are getting across and it’s great seeing them getting the time on the pitch and the exposure playing in these type of matches.”
On the young players picking up valuable experience…
“Tonight we had James Hill, a first year scholar, who started the game and he would have got loads out of playing against their experienced striker Jason Walker. Young Dylan Boyle and Ryan Rydel both got 90 minutes under their belt and that’s great to see.
“For players to get minutes into their legs before the new season is vital and it’s been worthwhile so far, and from this players can only do what they can to impress the manager.
“This is the structure that sticks with us as the U18’s will look to impress their manager and us, and also players in the Development Squad looking to impress not just ourselves, but also the first team coaching staff.
“The fact that the players have come here and worked hard, played some good stuff and got minutes, it has been very valuable.”
What next for the Development Squad…
“Well the U18s have a game this Saturday so we will all get into them this week and get them prepared for the game, and it’s just important we get players playing time and make sure we manage them the right way.
“Some of the lads have played three games in seven days so with those we will do a lot of clips, ILP work and watch the games back to help these players learn and show them areas in which they can improve.”