Rovers striker Kieran Agard has spoken of his delight after featuring in the U18s 3-2 victory against Wakefield AFC at the Millennium Stadium.
Agard contributed with an assist to a trialist for Rovers’ opening goal of the evening before his side went on to take the lead twice through Reo Griffiths and Jak Whiting late on as Chad Gribble’s side took victory on their travels.
The forward returned to pre-season having missed out on a large part of the back end of last season through injury and he was happy to be back out on the pitch, getting an hour in the tank and being amongst the goal contributions.
He said: “I’m feeling really good to be back having been out injured and having to have that road back to recovery I’m delighted to get that 60 minutes under my belt so I’m feeling really good.
“You’ve got to put yourself about with your running and work hard to get within the goals, so I’m really happy because I feel like my sharpness is coming back.”
After coming through a competitive game with Gribble’s side against Wakefield, Agard praised not only the talent within the U18s, but also the quality of the opposition.
He added: “You’ve got to give credit to Wakefield because they’ve really given us a tough game and they made it a really close game.
“I thought our boys were fantastic today and the young lads have come here and played well and they really look like they know what they’re doing and because of that we’ve got what we came here for today and most importantly the boys got minutes under their belts so it’s been a good night all round.”
With Agard now carrying a sustained amount of minutes, the attacker described his anticipation for the season to get going and how he’s relishing the competition for places with George Miller, Josh Andrews and Reo Griffiths.
He explained: “First and foremost I think you can see with the performances we’ve put into the games we’ve played that it’s been a very good preseason leading up to that first matchday.
“I’m excited for the season to get going and I think we’ve got a great squad that’s going to be able to compete so I can’t wait to play my part in it.
“It’s been very healthy to have competition upfront as they’re all very good strikers and in training, we’re always pushing each other.
“I appreciate seeing the way they finish, I like seeing all the strikers scoring goals so it’s only going to make for some very healthy competition.”