Following our U18s’ tremendous 5-2 win over Queens Park Rangers, Nicky Eaden highlighted that there is always room for improvement, even after victory.
The young Reds registered four different goal scorers on the day and had two Trialists playing in central defence, but still proved too hot to handle for a Hoops side that came into the encounter sitting third in the south league.
“Overall, we played a lot of good stuff but there are a lot of things we can do better,” Eaden began. “We had a great start to the game but later on in the half we were pegged back to one apiece. At that point, I thought it could’ve gone either way. If anything, in the middle period of the first half, QPR were the better side.”
Despite this, the young Reds fought through adversity with a dominant second half showing, claiming all three points in astonishing style.
Strikes from Fabio Jalo and Leo Farrell either side of Josiah Dyer’s quickfire double ensured our U18s picked up their third win of the campaign.
“At half-time, I gave the lads a few reminders of what we spoke to them about before the game,” continued Eaden. “QPR were quite strong in the first half so in the second half, we got to grips with their style of play, giving us the platform to go on and win the game.
“Josiah offers something different; he’s like an old fashioned target man and to be a target man you’ve got to make it stick. In the second half, he had a couple of balls up to him which he controlled. Then, when he had the chances to shoot, he did it brilliantly and grabbed himself a brace.”
Farrell was on hand to round off the scoring late on with his first goal of the season as he showed his poacher’s instinct to capitalise on a defensive error.
Eaden was full of praise for the young striker for showing that initiative to be in the right place at the right time.
“Fair play to Leo, he worked so hard,” asserted our U18s coach. “In the Bristol City game, he missed a good chance which he was gutted about.
“Although his goal was gifted to him it was still great to see him score and put the game to bed.”
