A very young United side played out a 1-0 win over local side Winterton Rangers at West Street on Tuesday night.
A late headed goal from Luke Waterfall proved decisive in an otherwise tightly contested affair with both sides locked together in an organised game.Reece Mosanya and Noel Burdett caught the eye, both going close - Burdett via the post, before the Iron took the lead late on in what was a good team display. Paul Harsley spoke to The Iron Player on a worthwhile exercise all-round.
He said: “It was a very young team apart from the two centre-halves so everybody got something out of the game. For the younger players, it’s great to play a competitive game for them.
“A lot of the younger ones haven’t been getting a lot of game time so it was good for everybody.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better attitude from Luke (Waterfall) and Boycie (Andrew Boyce).
“Luke popped up with a goal. They could easily have turned up and said ‘I don’t fancy it’, playing with the younger players but credit to them, they didn’t.
“We had a chat beforehand and they’ve gone out there and showed a good attitude.”
The squad consisted mainly of young trainees, many in their first year. Their application and a willingness to play the right way left Harsley positive about the crop of players as a group.
“They’re young kids who’ve just come into the club a lot of them, so I couldn’t have asked any more," he added.
“They tried to play football the right way, we hit the post just before we scored and I think we created the better chances of the two teams.
“We probably did deserve to win the game in the end.
“I don’t want to pick any of the kids out as they’re all developing, they all did well.
“There were a couple in my mind, the forwards did well. Everybody played a part in a good performance. I was pleased.”
Leicester City arrive at Glanford Park on Saturday and while Harsley said it would be ‘brilliant’ if anyone made the step up into that squad, the youth side have a fixture of their own to concentrate on at Bottesford.
He added: “The first team had a very good result last Saturday and Russ (Wilcox) will be building up to the first game the following week.
“We’ve got a game at Bottesford so I would have thought, hopefully I’m wrong, that the youth team would be together. If any of them step up then obviously that would be brilliant.”
See much more from Paul Harsley, and others, on The Iron Player.