First-year scholar Will Flint felt the youth team’s resilience was key to gaining a late point against Mansfield Town at the Hoober Homes Elite Performance Centre.
The defender scored in the 89th minute to pull Rovers U18s level for a second time in their EFL Youth Alliance League game with Harry Wood having already equalised late on in the first half.
Despite falling behind twice against the Stags, Flint insisted his side take great pride in their ability to come from behind to take points away from games.
He said: “We started the game quite slow but once we found our rhythm we played some really good football in their half of the pitch and dominated possession at times.
“We got the ball into some great areas and found some really good goal scoring opportunities through the patterns that we’ve worked on in training but we should’ve scored more.
“For my goal, we had a corner which was cleared but we kept the ball alive and Jack Raper delivered to the back post where Owen Scattergood has pulled it back across for me to finish.
“I think scoring vital goals late on is always a good trait to have and it’s down to all the lads never giving up.
“We gave our all right until the final whistle because we pride ourselves on being switched on and alert at all times to gain the edge on opposition players who aren’t paying attention.
“That’s why we are scoring in the last few minutes recently because we’re wearing teams down and keeping ourselves switched on, and it always feels good when you get those late goals.
Rovers U18s are now tasked with a second meeting against Bradford City in 10 days on Tuesday, March 7 and Rovers’ most recent late-
goal scorer felt a fast start would be key to getting another positive result.
Flint added: “When we play Bradford again on Tuesday, we will be looking to start a lot sharper and play the football we all know we can play for the full game because we know what they’re about.
“We know how important the game is for us on Tuesday because of where it would leave us in the league, so we want to go there for all 3 points.
“We have to go again from today and prepare well in training to go into that game with the best possible chance of coming away with the result that we want.”