John Schofield says his Development side need to be more ruthless in front of goal following Tuesday night’s defeat to Sheffield United U23s in the Premier League Cup.
Jordan Hallam scored a hat-trick for the Blades with Ali Crawford scoring the only goal for Rovers, and Schofield is looking for his side to be clinical with the opportunities they get.
“I thought that we competed a lot better in the first-half than what we did in the second, I felt we probably edged it and controlled the game before the break, but they’ve come out and done very well to get the win in the end which is unfortunate for us,” he said.
“In the second-half we let them apply themselves a lot better and that’s the difference at the end of the day, we never got going in the second period which was disappointing, we let them play a lot better than us and they were clinical with their chances.
“We’ve had chances and you have to take them when they come to you, the forward players are there to score goals, you can’t come away saying that you were unlucky, we need to be more ruthless because that’s the difference between winning and losing.”
Tuesday’s game against the Blades saw players such as Alfie May, Alfie Beestin and Crawford all get 90 minutes under their belt ahead of Sunday’s first-team trip to Chorley in the FA Cup, and Schofield was pleased to see players getting crucial minutes on the field.
“We’ve got 90 minutes into some of the lads which is going to be crucial for them, Louis Jones is one who’s had a bit of time out and he’s managed to come through a game which will be great for him,” he added.
“We had two lads come in that haven’t been with the group for very long and I was quite impressed with the way they played, it’s sometimes not easy but they gave it their all and that’s all you can ask for, and I hope that hard work and enthusiasm can continue.
“There’s a first-team game in the FA Cup on Sunday, we say to the players before every game that this is your stage to impress the manager and the first-team staff, there could be one or two that could be involved and that could be massive for them.”