Rovers U18s manager Chad Gribble is delighted by the start from his side who have made an unbeaten start to the 2022/23 season following a 2-0 win over Burton Albion at St. George’s Park.
Top goal scorer Jack Goodman netted for the fifth time in as many games before Faris Khan added a second goal to ensure Rovers edged what had been a tightly contested fixture.
The result sees Gribble’s side take their first away win of the season and in turn a fourth from five games across all competitions but the manager felt his side had to overcome new challenges to maintain their unbeaten record.
He said: “It wasn’t an easy game against Burton and we’ve got to give credit to them because they caused us a lot of problems with how they played and with the quality they had in the first-half.
“We had to be resilient, hard to beat and happy to defend, which is something we haven’t had to do to that extent yet.
“They had a lot of the ball in the first half albeit without threatening our goal so when we came in at half-time I was probably happier with the first half than the players were.
“We played some fantastic football, got the goals and we could’ve gone on to get one or two more so it’s been a pleasing day.”
With Rovers’ fixture being the only league game played on the day, the result in Staffordshire took the youth team to the summit of the EFL Youth Alliance League North East table leaving Gribble impressed with the form his side have built up.
He added: “It’s been a great start and I’ve said it before that it’s nice to win football matches and sit in a healthy position in the league table.
“We want to breed winners and competitive human beings because that’s what the game requires and I don’t think that’ll ever change.
“The bigger picture is getting our players into the first team group and our proudest moment of this season is still when our players made their debuts in the Papa John’s Trophy game.
“That been said, it’s a nice feeling that the work they’ve been putting in during training is coming off in game situations and that must make them feel good because they do work hard.
“That sort of thing goes unnoticed and people don’t see the hours all the players put in but they’re so honest and hardworking and at the moment they’re getting the rewards for it so it’s a credit to them and they’ve got to keep that work up to hopefully have some good careers in the game.”