The Cheltenham TowU18s have had a very good training week last week that culminated in the 5-2 victory against Portsmouth on Saturday in the Youth Alliance League.
The young Robins played fantastically well. Two penalties for George Lloyd gave Cheltenham a good foot hold in the game, before a fantastic passing move ended with Archie Brennan scoring inside the box after a cross from George Lloyd.
Jack Beardsell then scored a superb 25-yard volley after the ball came to him on the edge of a box from a corner. He composed himself really well and scored a contender for goal of the season!
The great performance was rounded off by Ben Halewood who went one-on-one against the defender before taking the ball into the box and scoring low at the far post.
The U18s have really found their feet now and are performing extremely well. Whilst still being extremely young in comparison to their opposition, they are finding a way to play and perform and Saturday’s performance was their just reward.
A special mention also to first year scholars Archie Brennan, Will Dawes and second year George Lloyd who all started for the first team in their Senior County Cup game against Gloucester City on Tuesday night. Second year captain Lee Llewelyn was on the bench with goalkeeper Lewis Clayton, along with development squad player Owen Williams, who came on as full back.
It is great that the young players are being given the opportunity to perform in the first team environment and all players did extremely well, with Will Dawes scoring a superb goal.
This week the U18s will play an in-house game due to there being no league game this weekend!
Our U13 age group deserve a special mention after their first win of the season this weekend and a clean sheet to go with it! The boys have been training and working really well over the past few weeks and were rewarded with a great 2-0 result against a good Swindon team.
The U14 and U15 groups were poor this week and lost convincingly to Swindon at both age groups. We are aware of the issues and shortcomings within these age groups and consequently are working hard to try and rectify them. I am confident that we will see big improvements over the next few weeks in both of these groups as we have a good level of talent and ability within both squads.
The U16s won a very tight and hard fought match at home to Portsmouth on Saturday. The U16s are on a run of good form, having won three of their last four fixtures. We had a lead going into half-time and were able to manage the game well in the second half and hold on to the lead for the second week in a row. We are happy with the way the players have worked over the past month or so and we are seeing the benefits now on a Saturday morning, which is pleasing for us as coaches, but perhaps more importantly, great for the players.
The Youth Development Phase have a free week next week as there will be a staff CPD weekend in preparation for our upcoming audit.
Finally, good luck to Gary and the first team in their games against Chesterfield!