After an exciting game on the Oakwell pitch resulted in a 2-2 draw between our U21s and Ipswich Town, Tom Harban shared his thoughts on the encounter.
The young Reds claimed a deserved point against last season’s southern champions, and a tactical change at half-time proved to be decisive as our academy side trailed.
“We saw improvements on the last performance,” Harban began, succeeding a much improved outing than the Reds’ previous 4-0 away loss to Millwall. “Again, we’re asking the lads to take on information and try to deliver it. There was a bit of a tactical tweak to try to look after their number 10 because I think in the first half, we didn’t deal with him.
“In the second half the boys were excellent in terms of managing this change and winning the ball back in important areas. We want to be a bit crisper and cleaner when we win it back and not give the ball away so cheaply, but I think we’ve definitely made good progress.
“It was a great start today. We had a tough spell, 20 minutes at the end of the first half and the start of the second where we were behind but full credit to the lads, the character they showed to get back in it was excellent.”
Harban was quick to praise Danny Benson, who’s out of position performance bagged himself an assist.
A centre-back by trade, the 18-year-old was deployed in an unfamiliar right wing-back role but showed his versatility by setting up Hayden Pickard with a fine cross-field pass to level the scores 10 minutes from time.
“I asked Danny to play on the right because Kareem picked up an injury last game, but he’s got all the physical attributes to play there,” asserted Harban. “He’s athletic, he’s got a good engine and he’s a great one v one defender, and he’s adapted and took the role on really well today. If he can play there quite often then it’s definitely another string to his bow.”
With upcoming fixtures in the Papa John’s Trophy, Harban shared his thoughts on whether he thought the U21s were ready for the step up into first team football.
“I’d like to hope they get a chance,” he surmised. “It’s a chance for the manager to get a look at the players in a different set up and environment so if they get opportunities, it would be great. We feel we’ve got a lot of players in the academy who we’ve got high hopes for, and think can progress into the first team.
“Whether they’re ready now is another question but our job in the academy is to try and get them there as early possible. If the manager wants to give them an opportunity to shine, then I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
