Fleetwood Town’s Development Squad coach Stephen Crainey spoke after his sides 3-0 defeat against Southport on Monday afternoon.
The former Scottish international was left frustrated after the Development Squad were beaten at Poolfoot Farm against the National League North side.
Crainey knows this is only his team’s second match of pre-season, and stated there is plenty of work to be done on the training pitch.
Here is what he had to say on the match, the positives and the Under 18s making the step up:
On the match…
“Today Southport were physically stronger than us when you look back at the game. It’s a learning curve for our lads as that’s the level they need to get up to, especially if they want to be a League One players.
“The lads need to aspire but it shows the work we need to do together to get them where we want them to be. I was disappointed with our timing and weight of passing, and our decision making and like I said, there’s loads to work on."
On the positives to take away…
“Today was another stage in the players getting back to their full fitness and in the match, I did see the lads work on the patterns of play which we’ve been working on in training and that was a pleasing aspect.
“As coaches, we need to be on the players on a daily basis and we will be doing that. We need to make sure we are getting the timing of movements when attacking and the structure behind the ball.
“I thought for 60 minutes we looked okay fitness wise, and over the next couple of days I will be topping that up and go from there. It will be back to basics on the training pitch tomorrow and we will get that intensity up ready for that first match of the season.”
On the Under 18s making the step up…
“James Hill is technically a second year scholar, who has signed his first professional contract and what I have said to the second year scholars is that they need to push.
“When they came onto the pitch today they lifted us with their energy and demanded the ball all over and the reality of football is that there is always someone who is looking to take your place, and if it’s a younger lad taking a seniors place, that will happen in football.”