First-year scholar Will Green is taking the positives out of Rovers U18s’ 1-1 draw at Bradford City despite wanting to return home with a maximum in the EFL Youth Alliance League.
The midfielder assisted Max Adamson for the game’s opening goal in the first half but it wouldn’t be enough to take all three points as the Bantams equalised in the 72nd minute.
Despite being pegged back to draw, Green felt his side responded well to nullify Bradford’s threat at the Horsfall Community Stadium and praised Adamson for his return to the squad.
He said: “I thought we did really well off the ball against Bradford because we obviously all know how good they are on it and they’re possibly the best side in the league at it more often than not.
“It’s always tough to get it back off a team like them but we were compact and hard to beat, and obviously we wanted all three points but to come away with one is still a positive.
“I think that over the last few weeks, we’ve been missing a striker who busts his gut to get inside that six yard box and jump at any opportunity so it was really good to have Max back in there.
“We’re all happy for him as well because it was his first start for a few months now and he’s shown just how important he can be for us.”
Green currently sits on nine goals for the season after a strong scoring start to the campaign but he admitted his eagerness to add one more success and give the squad a high to end the season on.
He added: “I hope I can get over that line, I’ve been stuck on nine for about three months now so I just want to do everything I can next week to make sure I finish on double digits so I can go into next season on a high, ready to push on for more.
“It’ll the last game of the season and unfortunately it’ll be some of the boys’ last game for the club so we all want to go to Harrogate and put in a shift so we can perform as a team and give the lads something to remember.”
With one more game to play at Harrogate Town on Friday May 5, Green offered his reflection on the youth team’s campaign.
“It’s been a good season all round really and, if we can find that little extra bit of consistency next time around, we’ll be ready to compete next year.
“Everyone knows that we’ve got a good team and hopefully that’ll help us to take the next steps to success next year.
“I think we all adapted well to Frank and we definitely all know what he expects of us now.
“We understand when he wants us to sit in and when he wants us to press and I think that the mentality in our squad is really good now after all of the comeback wins we’ve had.
“Going into next season, I think the boys who are coming in also have that same mentality and we’re all ready to push towards that same goal.”